ANBU's life
by RoxyMoon
Summary: KakashixOC; her whole life is based on the ANBU organization. She has never really known anything else but a life as a black ops...until she meets ex-ANBU Kakashi.
1. Non-ANBU mission

**_Hi everyone! So this is a second story I'm starting._**

**_I'll be honest, my favorite all time character is Kakashi. Except, as much as I can write stories with other characters easily, as much as I'm nervous to write anything Kakashi-related. Who knows...  
><em>****_So basically this is an attempt at creating something with an OC called Riko. I'm not sure yet where this is gonna go but I got a good feeling :)_**

**_Please note that I will not use any honorable titles except "sensei" and possibly "sama". I just feel like I'll easily screw up on that level. I will also name the characters by first name followed by the family name and not the opposite way. I'm just too lazy to do the opposite way. _**

**_Please review and comment about anything! Please tell me of any incoherence or anything I can correct. I will gladly take anything!_**

**_Disclaimer: I don't own any characters from Naruto obviously. If it was, Kakashi would be the main character...hehehe..._**

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><p>"You have required my assistance, Hokage?"<p>

The girl, wearing a strange dragon shaped mask with slashes of purple lines on it, was kneeling in front of the desk. In the chair behind was sitting a lady with blond hair, wearing a green coat which had the word "gambler" written on the back

"Yes, I have a mission to give you, now get up."

At her words, the young girl got up. The Hokage looked at her closely, judging this new recruit that Danzō had sent her on her request. Tsunade had never given her any mission specifically herself, but this girl had quite a good reputation. She was wearing two swords on her back, had the normal ANBU costume and the usual tattoo on her left arm.

"You're mask will be unnecessary for this mission", moved on the Hokage, "you will be accompanying a squad on a mission. The mission itself will be explained by the Fuderal Lord himself. You on your side will have to guarantee this mission's success. Be careful though, the town beside the castle has been making a big fuss recently. For some unexplained reason, they started to hold a grudge against the Lord. This is why you will be there. To protect him from any attack, and discover the reason why the villagers are making such an uproar. Understood?"

"Yes, Lady Tsunade," answered right away the girl.

"Now take off your mask."

The girl hesitated at this order, but after just a few seconds, she pulled off her mask with her right hand. Tsunade inspected the girl once more. She had black short hair, with deep purple eyes which somehow seemed empty. The girl's face had no emotion, it was completely neutral.

"Now, your name will be your real name: Riko. Go to your house and get change. Come back in about an hour to meet the squad."

"Yes, Lord Hokage."

The girl made a simple hand sign and disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving the Hokage lost in her thoughts.

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><p>Riko reappeared in the streets of Konoha, in front of an apartment building. When Riko got in the apartment, she saw at the front desk a man. During the week, he just lazily sat there, 'controlling' the people coming in and out of the building. Problem is that he doesn't take his job seriously. If a visitor came in the building, they would probably not guess that he's supposed to be the security of the building.<p>

The man in question lifted up his head from a book he was reading to see that it was only the young girl coming in. He did not bother to greet her or even smile at her, he just kept reading his mysterious book.

After climbing three flights of stairs, Riko arrived on the third floor. She walked directly to a door at the end of the hall way, which had 3 golden number painted on: "359". She stretched her hand to her back pouch, grabbed her keys, and finally entered her place.

Inside was a very comfortable little apartment. It had a living room, connected to a small kitchen. On the left there were two doors: one for the bathroom and the other one was her bedroom, which she was heading for. As she got in the room, she opened her closet, looking at the large variety of clothing that was offered to her. One by one, she studied them, knowing each's advantages and disadvantages. She finally rooted for a black long paints and a pretty purple long loosed sleeved shirt, which had 2 cuts on each shoulder, showing her ANBU tattoo on her arm. She putted on her leaf headband on her forehead, her back pouch, and a pocket attached to her right leg, containing shurikens.

As Riko walk outside of her door, she grabbed a bag already prepared that was full of things to survive on a mission, in addition to her double swords. She locked the door, got outside and started to head for the Hokage's office, this time on foot. Walking the whole distance took about an hour, just enough time to be back at Hokage's at the time requested by lady Tsunade. At her office's door, she lightly knocked on the door, and waited for permission to enter. But no answer came out. Confused, Riko knocked again, but still no answer came. As she was waiting, not knowing what to do, she looked up at a clock on the wall near where she was standing to make sure that she wasn't late. That's when a voice came from the hall way on her right.

"You are here to see Lady Tsunade?"

The girl turned her head to see the Hokage's assistant, Shizune, holding a pile of books and folders in her arms, and followed by a small cute little pig, wearing a necklace and a red shirt.

"Yes, Lord Hokage asked me to come and see her."

"Hmmm... Can you hold this please?"

The black hair girl took the pile in her arms, which surprisingly was pretty heavy, but she did not complain. Shizune knocked on the door firmly.

"Lady Tsunade, you have someone here for you."

Still no answer came from inside the office, which made the assistant very worried. She opened the door and walked inside to finally find the Hokage sleeping faced down on her desk.

"Lady Tsunade! WAKE UP!"

The woman lifted up her head, still half asleep and looked around. She had cards sticking to her face, which proved that she fell asleep on them.

"Huh? What is going on?"

"You fell asleep! That's what's going on!" yelled her assistant.

"Oh, I'm sorry Shizune, I barely slept last night."

Shizune let out a sigh before she spoke again. "Anyway, you have company."

She turned and saw that Riko was still holding the pile of documents. "Oh! Please just put those on the table!"

As the young girl got rid of the pile, Tsunade finally recognized who she was.

"Oh Riko! I barely recognized you with this new outfit! Is it already time?"

"Yes, Lord Hokage."

"Oh." She cleared her throat. "The others should be here in a moment."

As she finished her sentence, they all could hear a loud voice booming down the hall way.

"Hey Shikamaru! Can you believe it?! I finally got a mission, and the best thing about it is that its not a D rank one!"

A yellow flashy hair boy and a black hair boy got in the room. Judging by their faces, Riko could guess that the voice came from the yellow hair boy with a wide goofy smile.

"Riko, this will be two of your comrades for this mission. Shikamaru Nara..." She pointed at the black hair boy, "And Naruto Uzumaki..." now pointing the yellow hair boy.

"Riko? Hmmm... I never saw you before," said in a calm voice Shikamaru.

"Hey! That's right! And you're about our age too!" said Naruto.

"Actually, I'm about 6 years older than both of you which means that we were in different grades," simply answered the girl in a monotone voice. She was at the same time wondering how he couldn't see the obvious age difference.

Naruto was about to ask something else but a knock on the door interrupted him. They all turned around to see a silver haired man at the door.

"Ah! And this is your third teammate Riko. Kakashi Hatake... he will be the leader of your team."

Riko looked at the man carefully. She knew perfectly who he was: an ex-ANBU member. She heard all about him and his famous Sharingan now hidden under his crooked headband.

"Kakashi, this is Riko," finished presenting the Hokage.

"Yo," the man answered with a hand up.

"Okay now that you are all here, I can explain the little bit that I actually know."

Everyone got closer to Tsunade's desk, at the exception of Shizune and TonTon who went to stand behind the Hokage.

"Now, you will form a four man squad. Your mission will be explained more deeply by the Federal Lord, but I can tell you this: be careful of the neighbour town. Everyone seems to think that they will make a move soon."

"A move?! What do you mean Granny Tsunade?" asked Naruto

"The villagers have been mad at the Lord, that's all I know. You must accomplish the Lord's desire, and assure his safety. Naruto aside, Shikamaru's great talent to analyze various situations, Kakashi's Sharingan and Riko's great training should be useful if there is to be an attack. If there is one, stop it at all cost unless your situation has changed. I'm counting on your jugement."

"Wait, wait, wait, wait! Are you saying that I have no talent?!" interrupted once more Naruto.

"That's exactly what I'm saying. The only reason I've put you in this team, is that that I'm tired of you breaking my ears with the fact that you want something else then a D rank mission," answered severely Tsuande.

"AAAAAAAW!"

_Great, I'm stuck with an idiot on my team..._ thought Riko

"I must have a talent! Come on!"

"How about being a loud mouth and annoy people? That sounds like something you do," said Shikamaru while covering the ear that was on Naruto's side.

"Hey don't say that! You're lazy!" shouted Naruto.

"At least I have a brain" simply answered the black hair boy while pointing his head.

_...and a lazy guy..._"added the girl in her thoughts.

Naruto kept complaining until Kakashi interrupted him.

"That's enough Naruto..."

"But Kakashi-sensei..."

"No."

Naruto let out a big sigh and walked toward the door.

"Good luck on your mission," added the Hokage before everyone left.

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><p><strong><em>This is the first part! Let me know what you think!<em>**

**_I'll try to create a second part as soon as I can!_**


	2. What is wrong with you?

_**Hi everyone who decided to read past chapter 1. I guess the first thing I'd like to say is thank you for reading this far. It will get better I promise!**_

_**On the other hand, if you do have any opinion and/or ideas to share, feel free to send them to me via reviews or PM. I will always welcome any kind of ideas!**_

_**Kakashi is much more present in this chapter. I, also, tried to keep everyone in character as much I could!**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Trust me, if I did, it wouldn't be a show for everyone if you get what I mean ;)  
><strong>_

_**Onward!**_

Already Riko could see the sun setting in the distance. They had been gone for only roughly 5 hours and they had to stop for the night. Kakashi came at the same conclusion. Quickly he stopped and declared in a bored tone:

"Time to stop for the day. We're setting up camp near the river over there." He started heading toward the water flow which he had mentioned.

"Ah man! Can't we keep going for the night? I'm still full of energy!" whined the blonde hair boy.

"Well, I'm tired Naruto. So I'm going to follow what Kakashi-sensei says," Shikamaru told him while stifling a yawn. He immediately started to follow the silver hair man to set up camp.

"Humph. I say we vote! Hey Riko! What do you say? You're not tired right?" asked Naruto while turning toward the fourth person convinced that he'd get some support from her.

"Kakashi is our team leader. He calls the shots." With nothing more to say, Riko went to help the other men.

With a frown and basically no other options, the blonde boy followed slowly behind. Quickly, they emptied their bags and started setting things up, starting with the tents, until:

"Uh oh..."

"What now Naruto?" asked Shikamaru.

"Well..." The boy scratched the back of his head.

"Spit it out Naruto," ordered Kakashi.

"I...didn't think about bringing my tent..." slowly answered Naruto.

_He's kidding, right?_ Riko thought to herself while arching up and eyebrow.

"You packed all these useless things," Kakashi waved towards the other things, such as instant ramen, that Naruto had emptied on the group "but not something essential like a tent?"

"They're not useless!" he simply answered.

"Fine, you're sharing tents with Shikamaru _IF_ he's willing to do so. If not, you sleep outside. In the cold." Without adding anything more, the sensei turned toward his tent and continued putting it up.

While Naruto was busy making puppy eyes and nearly impossible promises to Shikamaru behind him, Kakashi looked in the direction of Riko. She was incredibly silent, not even participating in any group conversations. In fact, she hadn't spoken a word for the whole trip, almost as if she had been silently judging them. But Kakashi knew better. That's how ANBU members were trained: silent and unemotional. He suddenly felt bad for her. Why would suck a beautiful girl, especially at her age, should sacrifice living a beautiful life just to be turned into an emotionless weapon by the ANBU? He closed his eyes for a moment as he started to analyze how he felt. Why was he suddenly feeling frustrated for her? If that's what she wanted, then he had no business trying to change her mind. But still... Something, he didn't know what, wanted to make her see what she was missing. Why? That was still a mystery to him.

Riko, whom finished her tent rather quickly turned toward the group to notice that Shikamaru had finally accepted to share his tent with Naruto under the condition that he would have to set up the tent for them. The boy finally started to do so while mumbling something under his breath that sounded oddly familiar to "lazy ass". With nothing else to do, the girl decided to go see the leader to see what else he wanted her to do.

Arriving in front of him, she realized that his eyes were closed, as if he was thinking really hard about something. Standing there, not sure what to do, she finally cleared her throat to catch his attention. That made him jump. Somehow, he had not felt her presence.

"Yeah?"

"I wanted to know if there was anything else you wanted me to do," she quickly stated.

"Well for starters, you can start by treating me as your equal. I'm honestly not going to bite you or reprimand you like an ANBU captain." Staring her in the eyes, he saw a flicker of the first emotion he had seen since the beginning of the trip: confusion.

"WOAH, you're an ANBU ninja?" yelled Naruto from behind him while dropping everything, thus making the tent crumble back down to the ground again.

Staring down at their tent and realizing that it will never be up properly without his intervention, Shikamaru scratched the back of his head with one hand and said on an annoyed tone: "what a drag..."

When both boys minded their own business again, Riko looked back down at Kakashi that was still on his knees in front of his tent on the ground and asked: "How?"

"Riko Ryuu. You entered the ANBU team at the age of 17. I heard a lot about you and your famous double swords. Beside, even if I hadn't ever heard about you, your behavior gave you away. How long has it been since you've acted normally? Like talk and laugh with others around you."

Riko was stupefied. He had said all that without even looking at her, all while putting up his tent again. She decided not to answer. She simply kneed down and put up her side of the tent to help him. During the process she had started to think things like: _Who does he think he is to ask personal questions like that? _and _Like he'd really care what my life is like..._

When they were done, Kakashi told her: "Thanks for the help."

"It was no problem," she said all while bowing down.

"I'm serious Riko. Treat my like your equal, if not I will get mad for real." He rubbed his neck and looked at the boys behind him. Shikamaru was trying to patiently explain to Naruto how to set up their tent. But at the end, all his effort was greeted by a blank stare which was slowly starting to tick off the black hair boy.

With a sigh, Kakashi told them: "How about you both go get wood for a fire? Meanwhile, Riko and I will set up your tent." He then stared at Naruto specifically while asking, "do you think you can manage that?"

The boy's face lit up and he shouted: "Believe it!" He then turned to Shikamaru and declared: "I bet I can get more wood then you!"

As he ran out into the forest, Shikamaru shoved his hands in his pockets and started walking in the same direction while letting out another sigh. Once they were out of sight, Riko asked Kakashi: "Are they your regular students?"

"Yes and no," started to answer Kakashi while walking toward the tent to put it up. She quickly followed his movement and went around the other side to help him again. "Naruto is, or at least was, my student three years ago. A lot of things happened and he became Jiraya's apprentice. I guess now you could say he's back to being kind of my student. Shikamaru is one of my friend's student. He's a chuunin and has a great mind."

Looking at their finished work, he seemed satisfy. He then turned around to go grab rocks and set them in a circle for the fire.

"If I could guess, I'd say that Lady Tsunade was worried that he might bring us down during the mission so she asked to have an ANBU assigned to our group just in case." Done with his work, he brushed of the dirt off his hands. "That's where you come in," he finally added while smiling at her.

"Well, um, good deduction," she said, not too sure what to say. Socializing wasn't really listed in her best skilled.

For some reason, Kakashi started laughing lightly at her answer which strangely made a hint of pink appear on her cheeks. After sitting down on a large smooth rock, he patted down beside him so she could sit. Looking at her closely, he started thinking about just how cute she actually looked.

"What?" she asked when she noticed him staring at her.

The question made him snap back to reality. What was happening to him? But before he could answer her, Naruto came back with a huge pile of wood. Behind him, Shikamaru was walking empty handed.

"Shikamaru saw how awesome I am and gave up," declared Naruto loudly while laughing.

"Good grace, its a good thing that we don't need to be discrete tonight cause I swear we'd already be dead," said Kakashi rolling his eye. "Just set it in the circle I made and start a fire."

"Aw, why am I doing all the work?" whined Naruto. Dropping down the wood, he noticed how the two of them were sitting kinda close. "Wait... Are you trying to flirt with her? Trust me Kakashi-sensei, the old pervy's tricks don't work! He tried to prove it many times, but it never worked!" He then ran in front of Riko and told her, "beside Riko, you shouldn't get close to him! Kakashi-sensei is just a pervert too! You should see the book he reads all the time!"

At that point, Kakashi was holding a hand on his face while Riko was simply giving Naruto a blank stare. All she could think of was: _Did he just called the honorable Copy Cat ninja a __pervert__?_

"Oh come on! That was funny! You we're suppose to laugh," started saying Naruto in reaction to her lack of emotions.

"Maybe because none of us found you funny?" cut in Suikamaru.

"Come on! She's like an emotionless ghost! She's worst than Sai! It's just really creepy how-"

"Beside, can you stop snooping around in other people's affair and start the damn fire so we can eat and go sleep?" interrupted Shikamaru.

_Thank you Shikamaru, _silently thought Kakashi.

Thus, with this strange group, Riko realized that this mission would be a really weird one.

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><p><em><strong>This is all everyone! I tried to update this chapter as fast as I could to bring everyone more into context.<strong>_

_**Please please share the love by writing a review! It will motivate me to create more chapters!**_

_**Once again, if you find any incoherence, feel free to let me know so I can correct it ASAP!**_


	3. Finally arrived!

**Trying to bring in more the intrigue in this chapter. **

**Let me know if you have any ideas or opinion or request! :)**

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><p>Tsunade was waiting impatiently for Shizune to come back. Sitting behind her desk, she was facing the windows, staring up at the beautiful clear sky, thoughtful. Something was bothering her and she couldn't quite figure out what it was.<p>

Finally, the door opened quickly behind her and she heard Shizune running in followed by Tonton.

"H-here is the file you have requested, Lady Tsunade," said Shizune out of breath as she drop the object on the desk.

Tsunade turned around and stared at the file then at her assistant.

"Will you please shut the door?"

Shizune turned around to realize that the door was still opened. She ran to it and was about to close it but then started at Tsunade.

"Yes, you may stay if you wish to," the blonde woman answered her silent question.

She closed the door then walked back to the desk as she asked curiously:

"So why did you want this file suddenly? From what I could understand, no one touched that report in years."

"Because I'm curious about that girl…"

"Girl? I'm sorry, Lady Tsunade, but I'm afraid you lost me," said uncomfortably the younger black hair woman.

"Riko Ryuu. Her eyes were so… empty. As if she hasn't felt any kind of emotion for so long. Like she forgot what it is to feel something. Beside, don't you think she's young to be in the ANBU?"

"While that may be true, it is the ANBU organisation after all…"

Tsunade sighed at her answer. "You're right, but that's not what I'm wondering about. Ryuu… I'm sure I've heard of that clan before. This is why I wanted this," she added, tapping the file in front of her.

Without adding anything more, she opened the file and started to read. This file was one of the few reports the Fourth Hokage had done before he past away. Shizune stared at her former teacher whose eyes were scrolling the writing before her. As the minutes passed, her eyes grew bigger and bigger. Finally, she closed the file. After doing so, she closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose between her eyes.

"I can't believe there are people like that…" she mumbled.

"Riko Ryuu?"

"No, not her. That report consisted about an incident that happened 16 years ago within the Ryuu clan," explained the Hokage.

"A clan? I didn't know that there's a Ryuu clan!"

"That's because its members have dissolved…"

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><p>Finally, the group entered the Tea country. They had just a little longer to go then they would arrive at their destination. Kakashi called a last break before they arrived which, of course, caused Naruto to complain again.<p>

Sitting down, the group started to eat their snacks in silent. Surprisingly, Shikamaru eventually broke the silence.

"Something is bothering me…" he started slowly.

They all stared at him, waiting for him to continue.

"This town we're heading to… I'm no expert in geography, but I don't think there are any neighbour towns close to it."

"I think you might be right," agreed Kakashi while Riko nodded her head, agreeing. "So what are you heading at?"

"Didn't Lady Tsunade say to be careful of any kind of possible uproar from a neighbour town?" Shikamaru answered.

"I don't get it," said Naruto crossing his arms.

"He's saying that the information given to our Hokage might have been falsified," Riko answered.

Naruto looked at her surprise. Since when did the silent girl talk?

"But the information might have just been unclear. After all, we are officially getting our mission's description from the feudal lord himself," concluded Kakashi.

"Well from what I understand, Granny Tsunade told us to use our judgement. I think that's what matters," said Naruto nodding to himself. "So why don't we hurry and go see what's up with the messed up feudal lord?"

"Sure, let's go. I think we're all done anyways," said Kakashi when getting up. When everyone was up and leaving, he took the time to ruffle Naruto's hair and said, "do us all a favor and refrain yourself for saying that in front of the Lord himself. I'd love it if we could keep our heads."

With a "humph", Naruto started running behind the other two that had already left, joined by Kakashi. Another few minutes passed when Naruto asked:

"Hey Kakashi-sensei, what did you tell the weirdo?"

"Weirdo?" answered the man confused.

"You know, Riko."

"Please don't call her that. She doesn't deserve that kind of nickname."

"Well she is weird. Yesterday she wouldn't say a word or even react to any of my jokes and now she actually talks although she still has that creepy emotionless look."

Kakashi sighed. "Why don't you see it as progress? Or are you actually ok with seeing her lonely like that?"

Naruto stared at Kakashi with his big blue eyes. Somehow, what he said made him want to know more about the girl and why she acted like this.

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><p>Walking through the town was horrible. On the way to the lord's mansion, the amount of people, including kids, living in the streets was huge. Even the houses were in poor shape.<p>

"Are we at the right place?" asked Naruto quietly to the group.

"Unfortunately," answered Riko.

Naruto looked at her. She was staring at all of this without showing any hint of disgust or pity but she was looking carefully as if looking for something specific. Finally, curiosity got the best of him and he asked her:

"What are you looking for?"

She looked at him. "What do you mean?"

"You're obviously looking for something or you'd just stare ahead or at the sky like you've been doing for the whole trip."

She slowed down to walk beside him. "I'm just noting how there isn't a single building that look well maintained in this area, except for the mansion that we're heading to, which I'm guessing is the feudal lord's place, and that one over there," she said quietly while pointing at the one building that did look almost brand new.

He stared blankly at the building with everyone else in the group. She was right, aside from the mansion, there was this one building that looked like there was a lot of money invested to keep it looking sharp and inviting. Kakashi, who had already noticed, knew what it was: a house of pleasure. What was a place like this doing with a building like that?

"Hey, I wonder what it is!" declared Naruto.

The woman, who also knew what the building was, opened her mouth to answer but was swiftly cut off by the team's leader who knew that it wouldn't be wise to let this conversation continue.

"We've arrived. Everyone, look sharp."

Everyone straighten up nervously. As they were about to walk in the mansion, Kakashi turned around one last time to check his surrounding. With the mansion being set on a higher ground, he could almost see the whole village from where he was standing. That is when he realized that only one sector of the village was in a poor state: the part that they walked through. Confused, he turned, promising to himself that he would look into it.

Once inside, one of the servant announced their arrival to the feudal lord. After waiting for his permission, they all walked into a big room where a man and probably his wife were sitting at the other side of the room.

"Welcome! Thank you for coming at my request on such a short notice," the man welcomed everyone on a cheering tone as the four ninjas bowed down in front of him. "Oh please, sit up. No need to be so formal with me!"

At his order, everyone sat back up without saying a word.

"Now, I imagine that you would probably like to know your mission?" he asked and the group nodded their heads. "Good! I have requested your presence as I seem to have an issue with a sector of my village. Word has come to us that there is a rebellion that is currently being prepared to overthrow and perhaps kill me. I simply ask of you to stop them at all cost."

"Do we know their motives?" asked Kakashi once the man was done.

The man seemed to hesitate before finally answering in a monotone voice, "no, we unfortunately do not."

"And just to be sure, would the rebellion be coming from the south-east sector of this village," the silver hair man asked again, now thinking of the impoverished that they walked through.

"Yes, we have reason to believe that that is the case. However, there are no certain proof of that yet. You will unfortunately have to investigate a little bit," explained the feudal lord. Seeing as there were no more questions, he added in a more cheerful tone, "while you are staying in my village, please feel free to stay in the rooms I have especially prepared just for the four of you! My servants will show you the way."

The four members stood up and bowed one more time thankful for their host's hospitality. They then turned around to see the servants, that the lord had mention, and followed them down various hallways. Finally, they arrived to their respective rooms. Walking in, they noticed that their room were all interconnected with sliding doors.

"Awesome! I'll be able to sneak in your rooms during the night and pull some pranks!" said Naruto who's room was set between Shikamaru's and Kakashi's.

"Please don't. That would be bothersome," answered Shikamaru unimpressed from his room.

Kakashi slid open the door opposite to the one linking to Shikamaru's room to find that it led to Riko's room. The girl, who was setting her things down, looked up at the man curiously.

"Well, at least, we will all be closed to each other if something ever happens," she said on a logical tone to him.

"Uh, yes. That's right!" he quickly answered before finally closing the door. He, somehow, didn't expect to have his room linked to the Riko's. Some thoughts about what he could do with this opportunity went through his head at that moment but he quickly shook his head to push them out. He barely met this girl. What was he thinking?

Although she had said exactly what she was thinking, she felt a strange feeling in her stomach. Knowing that her room was right beside the Copy cat ninja's should have put her at ease, but it made her feel nervous at the same time. She didn't understand. In fact, when it came to her feeling, she rarely understood how she felt...

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><p><strong>Done for now! I know it was a bit boring, but I'll start making it more interesting next chapter!<strong>

**Please review still. Share the love!**

**ALSO - **Please check out the poll on my profile page ! I**f you like to read Kakashi one shots, I was thinking of maybe creating more of them with another OC I like a lot called Reena Tsuki. If you're interested in reading some, I have currently one up. **


	4. May the interrogation begin

**Hi everyone, I'm sorry for how long it took me to write this part. I was stuck between a slight writer's block (I know where the story's going, I'm just not sure of how to get there) and session projects. I'm incredibly stressed out right now and I'm about to start final exams... but after that it will be summer and I'll be able to write more!**

**Anywho, right now I got an idea in my head so the next part shouldn't take as long. If it does well... I probably got swamped by exams. University level is harsh after all!**

_**Disclaimer: **_**Still do not own Naruto nor Kakashi and other characters. Damn.**

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><p>In a private kitchen prepared especially for the visitors, the group was reuniting in the morning for breakfast. When Riko had walked in, she found Shikamaru eating in silence at the big table and Kakashi just standing near the window, looking outside. Seemed like he had already eaten. Thus, no chance that she would see what's under his mask this morning; new obsession she had started since… well… this morning it seemed.<p>

As she sat down with her breakfast, the blonde boy walked in still half asleep and in his pyjamas. Kakashi turned to look at him. When he noticed what he was wearing, he let out a sigh as he decided that it wasn't worth the effort to say anything. The blonde boy simply continued to prepare himself a breakfast, aka bowl of cereals, without noticing anything. Finally, he sat down facing the girl. After munching on his cereals for a bit, he seemed awake enough to start thinking. The girl watched how suddenly a spark of life shined through his blue eyes as he started staring at her. Several minutes past when finally Riko started feeling annoyed by his constant staring.

"Why are you staring at me?" she asked.

Naruto simply continued munching his cereals. Seemed like his brain wasn't working at a normal speed yet. Riko decided to ignore him and his lack of response. She concentrated on finishing her breakfast. As she swallowed the last bite and got up, the boy asked:

"Why are you in the ANBU?"

"What?"

"Why did you join the ANBU?" the boy patiently asked again while wondering how stupid she was for not understanding his question the first time around.

"What's wrong with being in it?" she dodged his question.

"Well... if I was your age, I'd be doing fun stuff. Like regular B-rank missions and eating ramen when coming back from them," he stated as a matter-of-fact.

Kakashi, from where he was standing, started staring at the two, curious to see how the girl would react to Naruto's interrogation.

"Well guess I'm not you, now am I?"

"Don't you want to be something cool later?" the simple boy continued.

"Something cool? Just get to the point Naruto," Riko said as she started losing patience.

Surprised by her newfound attitude, Naruto did what she asked. He went straight to the point: "Well I'm asking why not do something better than slave-working away for the ANBU organisation. Don't you have a goal? Don't you want to impress your parents?"

The silver hair man saw how Riko's expression started twisting in something that seemed like pain. However, the change was very subtle which made the sensei believe that Naruto was oblivious to it. As he started wondering if maybe he should intervene, the blonde kid added:

"Like I'm going to be Hokage one day. Believe it!"

Shikamaru, who had been quiet up to now, started chuckling. Curious, the girl looked at him.

"Well, looks like Naruto is finally awake," the boy finally said.

"What do you mean finally?!" the blonde boy asked angrily.

But the conversation ended there with a servant walking in. As he was about to say something, he got distracted with Naruto's morning fashion. It's only when Kakashi spoke that he snapped out of his trance.

"Yes?" the sensei asked patiently.

"Oh! Uh… Lord Takara would like to meet you in the main room as soon as possible."

"Good. We will meet him in…" Kakashi stared at Naruto who was still in his pyjamas, "well, I guess it is safe to say in 30 minutes?"

The servant bowed and walked out of the room.

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><p>Riko was waiting just outside the doors leading to the big room. As she had arrived first, she was still waiting for her teammates to arrive. With her back against the wall, she started thinking about the interrogation she had faced with Naruto this morning while unconsciously rubbing her right arm which had a black dragon's head tattoo that could be seen through the cut in the sleeve higher up. She became so much deep in thought that she jumped when she heard:<p>

"You okay?"

She turned around, her hand going to her double swords on her back out of reflex. She then relaxed when she saw Kakashi standing there with what seemed like a smile through his mask and an orange book in his right hand.

"Naruto can sometime be a pain in the neck since he doesn't always think about what he says or does but you get used to it… eventually," he continued as if he hadn't disturb her.

She didn't really know what to say so she looked down at her. Seeing her reaction, Kakashi put his book away in his pouch and walked up till he was close to her.

"Do you even like it working as a black op?"

Her heart skipped a beat seeing how close he was to her. Uncomfortable, she took a tiny step sideways, away from him, just to be comfortable enough to be able to breath again.

"Does it matter if I like my job or not?"

He arched up an eyebrow, the visible one, both at her reaction and her answer.

"What do you have to hide so badly that you need to avoid our questions?"

She looked up with a hint of surprise. That was one of the last question she had expected from any of her teammates. Seeing how she had always played her game well and how her other (ANBU) teammates don't usually care, she never really had to reveal anything about herself.

Seeing how Riko was not about to answer, Kakashi sighed and finally added:

"We just want to know you better. I guess Naruto does rub off on us on the long run."

"There's nothing interesting about me…" she whispered. Her answer, however, was mostly covered by Naruto's booming voice as he shouted out: "Kakashi-sensei! You're not late!"

The two of them turned around to see Naruto walking side by side with Shikamaru.

"Keep it down, Naruto. We're in a mansion after all," said the black hair boy.

The blonde hair boy scratched the back of his head. "Sorry! I'm just not used to seeing him on time." He then looked at the girl and added, "you know what? I change my mind about what I said during camping a few days ago! You have a good influence on him Riko! You should really hang around us more!"

"Oy, Naruto. Try to fix your own bad habits before starting to criticize your sensei's," Kakashi said with a slightly annoyed voice.

"What do you mean? I have nothing to fix about myself since I'm awesome!"

Seeing as this conversation was going nowhere, Shikamaru cut in by walking to the door and saying:

"Should we get going?"

Everyone nodded and walked toward the room. Once everyone arrived in front of the feudal lord, whom was sitting at the same spot than yesterday, they bowed.

"Please, please! No need for so much formality!" the lord said in a cheery fashion.

"You called us, sir?" finally asked Kakashi.

"Ah yes. I was wondering if it would be possible for me to gain a regular update from your team on your investigations. I would really much like to know about the progress make."

Roki arched an eyebrow as the request grabbed her attention. Why would the lord want to follow their movements? Was there something they were not suppose to stumble on?

"Yes, of course. We were just about to head out," the sensei answered.

"Anywhere in particular you wanted to start with?"

Again, the question struck Roki. She was growing more and more curious by his way of acting.

"Well…" Kakashi began thoughtful. "It would probably be beneficial if we start right away with the troubled sector of your town. If we can go directly to the core of the problem then we will probably be able to resolve it faster."

Lord Takara's expression grew thoughtful as he rested his head on his hands and his eyes drifted to an unknown place. "Yes, of course. It would make sense that you would start there…"

"Pardon me, but is there anything we should be aware of about this section?" asked Shikamaru whom had also caught on to the lord's way of acting.

The lord directed his attention to the group again. "Ah… I'm just worry about your safety. I wouldn't want some of the rebels to attack you. They can be quite… unpredictable, really."

"My lord, aside from you and your wife, whom we saw yesterday, is there any one else we would need to protect? A son or a daughter maybe?" asked Riko.

The feudal lord stared down the girl in a strange fashion which sent chills down her back.

"No. We do not have any children," answered Takara with a very dry voice.

An awkward silence followed. This was the first time that the lord showed this kind of agressivity. Finally, Kakashi broke the silence with a final question.

"How does your ruling system work? Do you have someone helping you with each section of your village?"

The lord's expression became cheery again. "Yes, you understood right. This is quite a village to rule over all by myself. Thus, I have ensured each section to a trusted member of my royal committee!"

"Who rules the south-east sector? Is it possible to find him somewhere?" asked Shikamaru.

With a light laugh, the lord answered: "he's quite a busy man but I'm sure he'll gladly take some time to meet you with any kind of affair related to his sector. In fact, you can easily find him in the house of pleasure which is located near here as he's the owner!"

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><p><strong>And that is it! Thought it'd be a great way to finish this chapter :)<strong>

**As per usual, share the love - write a review. Reviews = motivation, after all! Also, I like feedback of any kind really. **

**I can't wait to see how you guys like it!**

****Please visit my profile to vote on the poll posted at the top! It would be very appreciated!**


	5. Ramen shop

**Hi everyone! So seeing how it actually got easier for me to write this story, I'm thinking of maybe doing weekly updates. Let's hope this works! Exciting, right? ...right?**

**Also, I'd like to thank _lovingurbuks_ for the review on ch. 3. Really appreciated!**

**Thank you also _Hannahneko_ for all of your review up to now! I'm glad to see that people are following my story. It makes me incredibly happy :)**

**Finally, thank you _Sweet Petit_ for your review. I'm glad those were your thoughts on the previous chapter. Naruto really helps me make this story funny on top of the gradual fluffiness that will soon turn into romance.**

**_Disclaimer:_ Still do not own Naruto. Damn it. **

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><p>Naruto's face was priceless that morning. After the lord's revelation about what kind of place the luxurious building was, Naruto had had this expression of shock on his face. Thankfully though, he didn't peep a word until they were out in front of the mansion and out of earshot.<p>

"A pleasure house?! Really?! Like the ones the old pervy sage went to all the time?"

All Shikamaru and Kakashi could do was sigh while Riko gave him a confused look. Seeing her questioning stare, Kakashi answered her silent question.

"The 'pervy sage' he's referring to is the Sannin Jaraya."

"Jaraya? As in one of the legendary three sannins?"

"Yeah," answered Naruto with a frown while crossing his arms. "He's just a pervert who spent his time going to pleasure houses wherever we'd go. Oh, and he's old."

Riko scratched her head as she thought about how disrespectful this kid could be.

"Beside, I don't want to go in a place like that!" continued Naruto.

"You won't," Kakashi replied. "Going there all at once won't be productive. We'll need to split up. Shikamaru will stay in the mansion to keep an eye on the feudal lord and his wife."

He then looked at the one he just mentioned before adding, "try to see if you can get a bit of useful information from them. Maybe like why they don't have any children. A reaction like the one he showed earlier has to have a story behind it."

He then looked at both Naruto and Riko. "You two will split up in the south-east sector. Try to seek what happened to make them so different from the other sectors. We'll meet back at the mansion at dawn."

"Wait. What are you going to do?" asked Naruto.

"Well, I'm going to go see the manager of the section of course. Then, I'll make more research on my own about this section's story."

Riko had expected him to answer this but her stomach clenched. Shouldn't she be happy that she won't have to bother with a place like that?

Naruto turned his back on Kakashi and crossed his arms. "You just want to go have grown up fun in that stupid pleasure house. You're not even going to make any research! You're planning on making us all do the slave working, aren't you?"

He then turned toward his sensei for an answer but never got one. While the boy had been ranting, the team leader had taken that moment to take his leave. So all Naruto found was Riko with her arms crossed, waiting for him to finish, and Shikamaru already walking back to the mansion to do his part of the job while waving a hand in the air.

"HEY!" shouted out Naruto in frustration.

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><p>Thus, there was Riko walking alone in the streets observing her entourage. Wherever she would look, she would see desolation and despair. She wanted to find what made this section so different from all the other but the citizens were very hostile and closed up on themselves. But who could blame them? Who wouldn't be suspicious of a ninja hired by their lord which they currently seemed to hate?<p>

First thing she knew, it was already past noon and her stomach was reclaiming its meal. As she was about to go look for somewhere to eat, she heard in the distance:

"Riiiiiiiko!"

She turned around to see who was crazy enough to just shout her name like that. Of course, she saw Naruto running toward her with a big goofy grin on his face. He quickly grabbed her forearm and pulled her in another direction while declaring:

"I just found the most awesomest place EVER!"

Not sure what to do, she ended up letting herself be dragged to an unknown place. Soon enough, she discovered that following him was beneficial to her. There, in a random street, was a mini ramen restaurant that seemed to look similar to the popular one they have in Konoha. At the sight and thought of food, her stomach growled out with joy.

"Great, isn't it?" asked Naruto proudly.

She simply shook her head.

"Come on! Let's go eat!" he said while walking toward the restaurant followed by Riko. She, however, stopped dead in her tracks when the boy added: "it will be my treat!"

Noticing that she wasn't following him anymore, he turned around.

"Why?" she asked uncomfortable.

"Huh?"

"Why do you want to pay for my lunch?"

Instantly, he had that big goofy grin on his face again.

"Hehehe, well I thought that it would help us become better friends!"

"By paying me lunch?" she asked confused as ever.

"Yeah! Hehe. Iruka-sensei does the same thing for me so I thought you'd like it. Now come on! I don't think my stomach can wait any longer!"

As if on cue, Riko's stomach growled ferociously. Taking the hint, she finally gave in and followed the boy. She wasn't used to having her lunch being paid by others. In fact, she never had her lunch paid by anyone.

They quickly sat down and ordered. While they were waiting, Naruto asked the first question that came into his mind:

"So... I know you don't like me asking you about it but, do you really plan on being an ANBU forever?"

And again they were on the ANBU subject. Riko sighed.

"Why are you so interested in my job?"

"Well, you always seem so lonely and when we first met you, you were really quiet. Also, it's nice to hear you talk more. I hope you'll keep talking to us! You're nice!" he said with a huge smile on his face.

"Oh, uh... thanks?" was Riko's only reply. Again, her lack of socialization skill was showing.

"Besides, I think you should quit the ANBU like Kakashi-sensei did and do cool missions with us! I really think Kakashi-sensei would like that too!"

The girl simply stared at him. Where did this boy get all his ideas?

"I'm sorry to shatter your hopes Naruto but quitting the ANBU isn't really an option for me. Beside, doing so isn't very well seen in the organization."

"Why not?"

"I guess because it's just not honorable, unless of course you have been injured in the line of duty. Then you can quit honorably."

"No! I meant, why isn't it an option for you?"

"Oh, uh. Because that's how I always lived?"

"But you must be busy all the time, no? Don't your parents miss you?"

Without knowing, Naruto had stepped in a very touchy subject. Riko tried to avoid it. She turned to look straight ahead of her, away from Naruto.

"Let it go Naruto."

"What? Why?"

"Because it's not your business, kid."

"But it's not fair for your family if you're always away from them!"

Her hands, which were on the table, were now squeezed into fists. But the boy was too curious and oblivious to even notice anything. In fact, he hadn't notice the sudden appearance of pain in her face.

"Why wouldn't you want to spend time with them? Did you fight or something?"

Finally, Riko slammed one of her fists on the table and turned to look at Naruto.

"No, Naruto! They're dead! Both of them! Now will you let it go?!"

As soon as she had snapped, she had regretted her reaction. She hadn't lost control in so long and this was very strange for her to let her emotions free without trying to hide them. She would keep them inside her simply because she didn't understand them.

However, what she hadn't expected was Naruto's reaction.

"I understand... I don't have parents either. I'm sorry I pushed so far."

Instantly, she calmed down. "I apologize also..."

"Hehe," started Naruto awkwardly while scratching his head, "well I guess I understand you better now."

"Heh. Yeah, I guess you do. Just don't go telling this to everyone, ok? "

"But, what about Kakashi-sensei?"

"Especially not him." She didn't understand why herself but although she usually didn't want to share her story with anyone, she felt the urge of hiding it from that man.

As Naruto was going to ask why, the clerk finally brought the two bowls of ramen that they had ordered. Taking this opportunity, Riko decided to change the subject to something less awkward.

"So found any background information on this sector yet? If you can make me talk, I'm sure you got others to talk."

Instantly, Naruto became gloomy.

"No… No one wants to say anything. Kakashi-sensei will be disappointed," he answered pouting.

She almost choked on her ramen as she bursted out into a fit of laughter. Now it was Naruto's turn to be confused both by her reaction and by seeing her… well, laugh. It was just not a normal sight.

"What's so funny?" asked Naruto still pouting.

"So, first you complain that Kakashi is giving us all the dirty work then you're upset that you can't find anything and will disappoint him? You need to make up your mind, kid." She was starting to calm down, wiping away the tears from her eyes.

Seeing her laugh like this instead of her emotionless expression made Naruto crack a smile.

"See? I knew you could do better. Now you actually look human and not like a zombie! I never got that far with Sai… yet."

"Who's Sai?"

"Oh! He's an ANBU member like you! You might know him. He's pretty emotionless, like you were."

"What ability did he have?"

"Huh?"

"Well, since we all wear masks, we rarely get to see each other's face. So kind of identify everyone by their ability."

"Oh, well he draws a lot and he can make them come to life."

Thinking back through her several missions, she could vaguely remember seeing someone use a technique like that.

"Excuse me…" a voice interrupted her thinking.

The two ninjas looked up to see the clerk still standing in front of them.

"I overheard you saying that you wanted to learn about his place?" he continued.

"Yeah," answered Naruto, " but no one really wants to tell us about it".

"Are you here to kill us?" the clerk asked awkwardly.

"No no!" Naruto waved his hands in front of him. "We actually want to make things right! We want to help bring peace!"

Riko looked at the boy. His answer made her realize that he had a different point of view on this mission. Instead of doing his mission as told and simply stop any kind of uproar, he wanted to do more. He wanted to help this sector.

The clerk smiled. "Well, boy, then I'm willing to tell you our story or at least, what I know of it."

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><p><strong>That's all for this chapter!<strong>

**So I may or may not have the next chapter almost done... but I really want to first see the feedback on this chapter!**

**Remember people! Share the love, write a review!**

**Thank you all for reading this far, I'm working really hard on not letting you guys down!**

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	6. What happened?

**Hi everyone! Doing good so far with the weekly updates!**

**Thanks _hannahneko_ again for your review. I know the story seems a bit slow but it will start soon!**

**Also, thank you _gunslayer12_ for your constructive review. It was a pleasure to read it. For Riko's past, it will be all revealed in the next chapter (stay tuned for next week!). As for Naruto, I'm glad you have mentioned about how annoying he is and you guessed right, it was for a purpose as I need a reason for Riko to snap and come out of her little bubble. Now that we have reached that point, he will go back to being a normal level of annoying. Thanks again for your review!**

**Onward to the story!**

_**Disclaimer:**_** I don't own Naruto. If I did, there would be more updates :)**

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><p>Kakashi had had, what it seems to him, a good day. Turns out the manager couldn't meet up with him but left him a compensation. Sitting there, reading his book, and thinking back to today's event, he blushed. Thank god for his mask.<p>

Naruto and Riko walked in the little private kitchen where the team was meeting that evening. There, they found Shikamaru slouching back in his chair half asleep and Kakashi who seemed oddly relaxed, sitting in his chair and reading his book. No one really bothered to look up or, in fact, seemed to be aware of their presence when they walked in, which made Naruto a bit upset.

"Hey! Were we the only one working our asses off?!" he shouted out.

Shikamaru sat up in his chair, now aware of the two new arrivals.

"Gee, Naruto. Keep it down will ya?"

"Did you two at least find anything?!" kept shouting Naruto while pointing at the black hair boy. Meanwhile, Riko went to sit down, looking exhausted.

"You're such a drag. Yes, I found a bit of information but not from the lord or his wife. Turns out the servants are really chatty."

"Oh?" Naruto calmed down and was now interested in what his friend had to say.

"Yeah. Turns out the reason the lord and his wife don't have any children of their own which is simply due to the fact that the wife can't have any kids."

"Explains why he was so rough with Riko…" mumbled Naruto while looking at the girl.

She looked at him and shrugged off the memory.

"Why not tell them what we found?" said the girl with what she hoped to be an encouraging smile.

Kakashi finally looked up from his book, staring at the girl curiously. Something was different about her. She didn't seem as closed up on herself as before. Had Naruto performed his magic again?

"Well, it's really a funny story. Riko and I couldn't find any information. People were really silent and kept glaring at us. But then we had lunch at this super awesome ramen place I found. The clerk there was really cold at first but then for some reason he said that he'd share what he knew. So we didn't find much but…" started the blonde boy.

"Spit it out already," said Shikamaru.

"Humph. Ok. Turns out the feudal lord is the evil one and gave the management to someone even more horrible!" Naruto crossed his arms with a smile, satisfied with what he said.

Riko hide her face in her right hand. "That's not the whole story, kid."

"Well you tell it then!" he dared her.

She sighed. "Fine," she sat up in her chair, remembering what the clerk had told them in a hush tone. "We were told that the south-east sector of the village used to be as prosperous as the rest of the town. They all loved lord Takara as he always found someone fair and noble to help him manage each section. If there was ever any problem or complaints, the lord would not hesitate to intervene. This village was known for its governing system because of how well the economy rolled. However, about 20 years ago, the feudal lord did something unexpected."

As she was about to continue, she was interrupted by the servants coming in with different kind of plates filled with food.

"Woah!" shouted out Naruto in surprised.

While the servants were setting things down, Kakashi explained to the two new arrivals, "we took the liberty of asking them for supper since we were expecting you soon. Hope you like it."

"You bet!" said the blonde boy. He took a pair of chopstick and said while splitting them: "Itadakimasu!"

Everyone digged in while the servants left. Once they were all gone, Riko continued.

"So about 20 years ago, the feudal lord came out of the blue and replaced the manager of the south-east sector, which was really appreciated by the inhabitants, with no valid reason. When he was openly asked about this sudden decision, he would only tell his people that it was for their best. However, this new manager, the owner of the pleasure house, abused his authority and claimed as much money as he could from his sector. The people complained to lord Takara but he would only turn a blind eye. That is when all the hatred started."

"Wow…" was the only response Shikamaru managed to give while everyone else had stopped eating and remained speechless. "Well that explains why the servants were saying that all the staff was fired and replaced."

"Huh?" said Naruto confused.

"Yeah, apparently, around the time it all happened, lord Takara requested to have all his staff fired, beginning with the ones that lived in the south-east sector. Then, he hired new people to replace the old ones. That means that now we need to know more about this man who owns the pleasure house. There's definitely something that happened but what?"

Everyone turned to look at Kakashi.

"Now that I think about it, how did the meeting with that man go?" asked Naruto who started eating again.

"Well to begin, his name is Ren. He was about to receive me but unfortunately a last minute situation came up and wasn't able to meet me today. Thus, he told me to come see him tomorrow and that he would have time to meet up with me."

"Well shoot. We're forced to wait now…" commented Shikamaru.

"Wait, wait, wait!" interrupted Naruto. "Sensei, what did you do today then?"

Riko looked at the man curiously. Naruto had spoken out loud what she was thinking quietly.

"I continued my research like the two of you," said Kakashi now facing his plate.

It was only then that Riko noticed that although he had put food in his plate, he hadn't eaten any of it. No seeing what's under the mask again! But that was becoming the last of her concern as Naruto's interrogation continued.

"Then why didn't we see you?" continued Naruto. Riko looked at him again quietly. Where was Naruto trying to go with this?

"Because I didn't make my research in the sector."

"Then where were you?"

"Naruto, what do you want to know," asked Kakashi with a sigh. Seemed like he was tired of the interrogation too.

"While Riko and I were doing all the dirty work, you spent the day at the pleasure house, didn't you? You're acting exactly the same way the pervy sage would after having his 'fun' at a pleasure house!" continued to shout out the blonde boy while quoting with his fingers the word 'fun'.

Riko looked down at her plate. She now had lost her appetite. What Naruto just said made an uneasy feeling grow inside her.

Shikamaru sighed. "Naruto give it a break. You're being loud and annoying."

"You might not care but I do!" he then looked at his sensei again. "You did didn't you?"

"How will knowing this help with our mission?" asked Kakashi, obviously avoiding admitting his wrongs.

His answer was the straw that breaks the camel. She slammed her hands on the table, loudly backed up her chair and stormed out of the room, leaving three very dumbfounded teammates staring at the door through which she left. The last thing she heard was Naruto's loud voice shouting accusingly:

"See? Even Riko cares!"

On her way to her room, she raised one of her hands on her head. What was wrong with her? Not only did she lose it, but this was the second time today! She never acted like this. Never. At least, not since she joined the ANBU.

A short time later, she was in her room. Sliding the door shut, she wished that it was a regular door which she could lock. Then, standing in the middle of her room, she wasn't sure what to do. She stood there several minutes looking around her and outside. Finally, she eyed her bed and decided that she was probably sick and needed to sleep. Thus, she took off all her equipment, carefully leaving her swords near her bed, and lifted her shirt off to leave only her blank tank top on. Before laying down, she looked at her reflection in a mirror on a wall near her bed. With only her tank top on, she could clearly see her ANBU tattoo on her left arm and her dragon tattoo on her other arm. The second tattoo started on her arm, just below her shoulder, with a long neck and body that stretched up and around her shoulder to finish on her back, under her shirt. She caressed lovingly its head and smiled weakly. As she turned to lie down, a light knock could be heard on her door.

"Riko?"

It was Kakashi. After the girl had stormed off, the man had started feeling guilty for what he did today. Not because the girl and Naruto had to look alone for information but for another reason that was unknown to him. Whatever that reason was, it made him feel like he acted stupidly.

"Can I come in?" he asked still waiting for an answer.

But she never gave him an answer.

An awkward silence followed. Very slowly, she slipped into her bed without making any sounds as if afraid that Kakashi could hear her.

"I'm sorry..." whispered the man before leaving.

Lying down on her back, Riko finally found how to name that nagging emotion she had been feeling since she left the kitchen. This emotion was hurt.

On the other side of the door that connected to Kakashi's room, she could see the shadow of the man moving around slowly. Knowing that he was just there, on the other side, made her feel even more uneasy. She tried closing her eyes to make the pain go away, trying to resonate herself. She then heard the team leader let himself fall hardly on his bed. Somehow, he seemed discourage and he was. Still trying to understand why, Kakashi felt like he had messed up big time at the pleasure house today.

Outside, a storm could be heard coming from far away...

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><p><strong>More suspense! So yeah... So I realize this was a slow chapter but it was to set the next one. The next chapter will be much much more interesting, even I can't wait to post it! Hahahaha<strong>

**As per usual: share the love, write a review. Reviews and favs are great motivators!**


	7. Nightmares of the past

**Hey guys, so this is the chapter which I was so excited to make you all read. Now that I'm posting it, I feel kinda nervous about how you will all feel about it. Author's jitters? Haha... I'm doing my updates this week a day early since tomorrow I'm going to be swamped with a final exam and I know I won't have the time to post it. So, enjoy the early update!**

**Thank you again to _Hannahneko_ and _gunslayer12_ for your continuous reviews. I love reading your opinion on this story. Also, I get your point of view on the whole apologizing thing on the previous chapter_ gunslayer12, _and I'm honestly glad that you mentioned it. I believe it will actually work at my advantage for the chapter following this one!**

**Anyways, this chapter should shed some light on Riko's past and more. I hope you enjoy it! **

_**Disclaimer: **_**I don't own Naruto. Too good of a manga to be written, even less drawn, by me ;)**

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><p><em>Six years old Riko was standing in the middle of a crowd. Her clan had gathered at her grandfather's request. Holding her mom's hand, the young girl looked around to see where her dad was but with all these adults around, it was impossible to spot him. <em>

_The crowd grew quiet as Riko's grandfather appeared in the middle. Once everyone was quiet, the old man began. _

_"Thank you all for meeting me here on such a short notice. I have reunited all of you here to speak of a very important matter. As you all know, I am growing old and the time of my reign over this clan is coming to an end. Soon, I will need to name my successor."_

_Roughly half of the crowd started applauding and whispering the name 'Ayumu', Riko's dad. However, the old man began to speak again. _

_"However, it is to my regret that I declare that my son, Ayumu Ryuu, will not be named as my successor. In fact, as long as I live, I will make sure that my son will not rule this clan due to his idealistic ways of thinking."_

_Harsh whispering started again in the crowd. Young Riko looked up at her mother and asked: "Mommy, what does it mean?"_

_Her only response was to look down sadly at her child. Suddenly, yelling shot up from the crowd and the clan started becoming quite aggressive. Some agreed with the old man's decision, others did not. _

_The crowd started to move and push around, leading to Riko's separation from her mother. The crowd started to swirl around her as she called out for her mother. _

_Suddenly, Riko was standing in a doorway, listening to her father speaking to some men. They whispered harshly, asking for justice and revenge as Ayumu tried to calm them down. They talked about how unfair the old man's ways were. They asked to rebel. They even talked about protecting Ayumu as his life could be in danger. With a slight smile, the man told them how touched he was by their concerned but refused any kind of protection. _

_A hand touched lightly the young girl's shoulder. Looking up, she saw her mother bending over her protectively. Quietly, she told Riko:_

_"Why don't we go make supper for these nice gentlemen?"_

_The girl nodded quickly and they both walked toward the kitchen. While bringing some food for her mother to cut, Riko asked:_

_"Mommy, why does grandfather hate us? Did we do something wrong?"_

_The mother kneeled down in front of her and while brushing away her daughter's hair from her face, she answered sadly:_

_"No dear. Your grandfather simply does not agree with your father's dream. We did nothing wrong."_

_"But daddy wants to allow our clan to befriend with the rest of Konoha. Is it that bad to be friends with them?"_

_"No dear. In fact, it seems like a wonderful idea."_

_Everything swirled around Riko, as if caught in a tornado. _

_"Mommy?!" cried out the girl again. _

_When her surrounding settled down, the girl was sitting in her bed in the dark. First thing she knew an explosion was heard down stairs. Running out in the hallway, Riko noticed several masked men running in the house with weapons such as explosive tags, kunais, and shurikens. As she was about to scream out, someone grabbed her from behind and holding her in his arm, they escaped through a window at the back of the house. _

_"Everything will be fine honey," said the man whom she recognised as her father. In front of them, she could see her mother also running ahead. _

_"Where are we going?"_

_Before her father could answer her, they both dropped roughly on the ground. _

_"Ayumu!" screamed in terror Riko's mother. She ran back quickly to her husband. _

_"You need to go on without me Sayuri. Take Riko with you!" urged Ayumu._

_"NO! We're not leaving you! You...you can't leave us! YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME!..." started Riko in tears. _

_Coughing up blood, her father tried to smile. _

_"It's okay dear," he said reassuringly. "I'll always be with you."_

_He whipped with his left thumb the blood coming out of his mouth, raised his right sleeve and brushed the blood on the head of dragon tattoo that was hidden there. Making a quick hand sign, he made the tattoo come alive. It first swirled around the young girl then, sneaking under her shirt, it transformed back into a tattoo on her skin, taking the exact position it once had on his old owner. The girl could feel a slight burn where the whole tattoo took place. _

_"He is now linked to you Riko. He will be your closest friend and your guardian. This is my way of staying with you."_

_Shortly after Ayumu said this, voices started to be heard behind them. _

_"Daddy..." said Riko. _

_But she was swiftly grabbed by her mother who began running again. _

_The environment began shifting again. Before everything became blurry, Riko saw her dad fall asleep peacefully on the ground._

_"DADDY!"_

_When the surrounding calmed down, they were almost at the Hokage's building. However, a man jumped in front of Sayuri who was still holding Riko protectively. The man did a hand sign and backed up. Almost instantly, the mother threw her daughter on the ground. Something was wrong. _

_Sitting up, Riko looked up in fear. "Mommy, what's wrong?"_

_But the woman did not hear her question. In fact, she did not see her poor terrified daughter on the ground. What she saw was a masked man holding a giant shuriken in one hand. Without realizing it, Sayuri had been caught in a genjutsu. The mother jumped on whom she thought was the enemy, wrapped her hands around his neck and yelled out in rage:_

_"YOU KILLED HIM! YOU KILLED AYUMU! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"_

_Under her, barely breathing, Riko wrapped her small hands around her mother's arms. _

_"...mommy...stop..." she barely managed to say. _

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><p>A storm was violently raging outside. It was really hard to sleep with the terrible noise it made, especially for Kakashi. Every time he saw a flash of lightning, almost instantly he would hear a very loud booming sound. He knew the storm was right above them and couldn't wait till it would make its way past the village.<p>

_FLASH. BOOM._

The man finally gave up on sleeping until the storm was gone. Sitting up in his bed, he watched the outside scenery through the window. While doing so, his thoughts drifted off to yesterday. As much as he had a good time at the pleasure house, as much as he hated himself now. Thinking again about it made him angry with himself.

His thoughts were soon interrupted by a noise that caught his attention. Listening carefully, he finally heard it:

"No... don't kill me..."

_FLASH. BOOM._

_"It's me...please..."_

Kakashi got up and walked around his room. The noise led him to the door leading to Riko's room. Unsure what to do, mostly because of last evening's events, Kakashi opted for knocking. He waited, waiting for an answer but only heard:

"I didn't kill him...help...!"

Worried, Kakashi opened the door. The room was dark and he wasn't sure where she was.

_FLASH. BOOM._

During the last flash of lightning, the man managed to locate the girl in her bed. Walking up slowly, he called out her name softly. Still not getting any answers, he kneed down by her side.

"Help...someone..."

_FLASH. BOOM._

During that brief moment, he managed to see her clearly. She was sweating heavily and trashing. Whatever her nightmare was, it seemed to be pretty nasty. Kakashi suddenly felt the urge to help her. Softly, he grabbed her shoulder and tried to wake her up.

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><p><em>Young Riko's vision was starting to darken. She was suffocating and there was nothing she could do. Behind her, she could hear the man who casted the genjutsu laugh loudly. <em>

_Through his laugh, Riko heard another voice that she did not recognize:_

"Riko. You need to wake up."

_The other man's laugh suddenly stopped. _

_"Enough!" another man's voice was heard. _

_Sayuri was suddenly pulled away by a man with golden hair and wearing a white and red cape. With a hand sign, he broke the genjutsu and laid the unconscious woman on the ground. He then came to the young girl who was breathing heavily. _

"Riko. You're having a nightmare. Wake up." Again the unknown voice could be heard.

_"I'm sorry I couldn't come to help you before. Are you okay kid?" the man softly asked. _

_The girl shook her head and started crying more than ever. Without Riko noticing, her surrounding shifted again. Next thing she knew, she was in a small apartment prepared by the Hokage himself. Walking around in the dark, the young girl started looking and calling for her mother. She started feeling suffocated, knowing that something was wrong. Breathing heavily, she started to shake in fear._

"Riko. It's me, Kakashi. Wake up," the unknown voice said from nowhere.

_Turning the corner leading to her mother's room, Riko noticed that the door was just slightly open. She first knocked on it, waiting for the permission to come in. _

"_Mommy? I'm scared…" said the girl when her mother didn't answer._

_Still not getting an answer, Riko pushed the door open. There, on the ground, she saw her mother lying in a puddle of blood with a kunai in her stomach. Running to her, she dropped to ground and started shaking the woman._

"_Mommy! Mommy! Wake up! You need to wake up!" she yelled out, crying more than ever. "You...you can't leave me alone! Mommy, I'm scared!"_

"Riko! It's all a nightmare! Whatever you are seeing is just a dream!" said the unknown voice in panic.

_A nightmare? If only this had been a nightmare…_

* * *

><p>Kakashi had started panicking. Riko had started breathing heavily, shaking and crying all while still thrashing around. He was worried that she would eventually hurt herself or worse, have a heart attack.<p>

"Riko! It's all a nightmare! Whatever you are seeing is just a dream!" he almost yelled out while shaking her more firmly.

With a loud gasp, the girl finally woke up. She sat up and was breathing heavily while looking in front of her with her eyes wide open. She then hid her face and started crying.

"Riko… it's okay now. You're safe here," softly said Kakashi, trying to reassure her while brushing her shoulder.

_FLASH. BOOM._

The sudden thunder scared the girl and her first reaction was to jump toward the man for protection. Surprised by her sudden reaction, he wrapped his arms around her protectively.

"They're all dead and I couldn't do anything," she sobbed.

"It's okay. Everything will be okay…" he continued to whisper.

She tightened her grip around him. "Please don't leave me. I'm scared…"

"I won't," Kakashi promised.

Sitting there, holding her, the man started thinking about how this was a side of her that he had never seen. She seemed actually vulnerable compared to her usual quiet and emotionless self. This may be in fact the real her which she was trying so desperately to hide from everyone. At that moment, he promised to himself that he would help her come out of her shell. He wanted to help her face her fears.

Right there and then, he realized that he did not only feel curious about her. In fact, he may actually care more about her than he ever thought.

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><p><strong>This is it for this chapter! I hope it was as good as I made it seem!<strong>

**As per usual: share the love, write a review! (Maybe I should find another catch phrase hahaha)**

**Thank you for reading this far!**


	8. Investigation

**Happy late easter to everyone who celebrated it! Hope you all enjoyed your long weekend! I'm glad you are all following my so far. It's nice to know that it's good enough to have this many people reading it haha...**

**Also, thank you for the reviews. I love you guys when you give me your opinion :) Enjoy this longer chapter!**

_**Disclaimer: **_**I don't Naruto. Wouldn't it be darn awesome if I did though?**

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><p>When Kakashi woke up, he realized that he was still lying down beside the girl. Very slowly, he got up and walked out of the room all while making sure not to wake her, afraid of her reaction. He had not planned to fall asleep with her and wanted to avoid any future awkwardness. After getting all his things together and got dressed, the man walked out of his room. As he did so, he heard a door slide on his right. The girl walked out of her room, stretching sleepily, holding a bag with her things in one hand. With a stifled yawn, she mumbled:<p>

"Good morning…"

Kakashi rubbed the back of his neck. "Good morning, feeling better?"

The girl blinked confusedly and looked at the man. It was clear that she did not remember last night yet. Then thinking that he was referring to last evening, she started looking uncomfortable.

"Yeah, sorry for what I did. I don't usually get angry like that."

Realizing what she was talking about, Kakashi shook his shoulder.

"Happens to the best of us," he said while turning away and walking toward their little private kitchen.

"Wait!" said the girl suddenly.

Kakashi stopped in his tracks.

"Why… did you apologize last night?"

The man turned around and stared at the girl, not sure what to say. He didn't have the answer to this. He never realized until last night how attracted he had been to the girl.

"Uh… for fooling around. A Jounin like me should know better," he lied.

Now it was the girl's turn to shake her shoulder. Deciding not to push the matter any further, she walked the other way towards the shower. She knew that men had their urges. It was hard to believe but even her ANBU teammates would sometimes slip.

The man walked in the kitchen and seeing it empty made him happy. He would be able to eat his breakfast in peace. Quickly, he served himself a bowl of cereals and stood in front of the window, his back on the door. Alone, eating silently, he surprised himself by reflecting back upon the times that he was an ANBU ninja himself. He really had a hard time getting out of the organisation and wondered if Riko had ever considered trying to the same.

As he finished his bowl and pulled his mask back up, the door opened behind him. Both Shikamaru and Naruto (who was actually dressed today, thankfully) walked in, wondering what their next step should be. Now that they were getting closer to getting the information needed, Naruto seemed much more serious about this mission.

"No, no. What I'm asking is what do we do if this guy, Ren who owns the pleasure house, doesn't say anything? Are we going to be back at square one?" asked Naruto.

"No because, thanks to the information that you and Riko found yesterday, we still have a trail. We just need to find someone who knows about what happened and is willing to share it with us," tried to explain Shikamaru.

"Please tell me that you two haven't been discussing that in the hallway," said Kakashi.

As he asked his question, the door opened again and Riko walked in.

"Unfortunately they have," she answered for them.

Kakashi sighed while Naruto gave Shikamaru a silent questioning look. The black hair boy closed his eyes, now realizing their mistake.

"If someone heard about this, they could try to stop us from getting any further…" explained the boy.

"Oh…" Naruto mumbled, now feeling bad. But then, determined, he looked at Kakashi. "So what are we doing today, sensei?"

While everyone settled down to eat breakfast, Kakashi stood at the end of the table and started sharing the plan he had come up with.

"Today, I will need Shikamaru to stay here again. While looking over the feudal lord and his wife, try to see if any of the staff knew personally any of the older staff," he first started while looking at Shikamaru. He then turned his head and looked at the other two. "As for you two, if I understood properly, you have better luck finding information when you are together. No offense," he added while looking at the girl who simply nodded. "I need you to look for anyone who could have been part of the staff before they were all fired. We're searching for any kind of information, really. So you will need to broaden your search through all 8 sectors. Naruto, please follow Riko's orders. Anything she says goes. As soon as I will be done with my part, I will track you down and try to meet you at around noon." Seeing everyone nodding in understanding, he asked: "Any questions?"

Naruto opened his mouth, then looked at Riko who shook her head, then closed his mouth. Whatever he was going to ask didn't seem important enough.

"Good. If we're lucky, we'll find as much information as yesterday," said the silver hair man with a cheerful tone. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have an appointment with someone."

Whipping out his usual little orange book, he hid his face with it and walked out. It was really intriguing how it was possible for him to move around like that without always bumping into anything. Eating the last bit of his breakfast, Naruto looked up at the girl and asked:

"Are we ready to go?"

"If you are then I am," she answered.

Walking outside the mansion, they took advantage of the perfect view they had from where they were standing.

"Where should we start?" asked Naruto as he crossed his arms behind his head.

Riko started thinking. "Well if what we're searching for is related to the south-east sector, then maybe we should check out the south and the east sector."

"Sweet! Let's go!"

And so their quest for information started in the south sector. The great thing about that sector was how the villagers were welcoming and nice compared to the sector they had visited yesterday. The down side was how devoid of information these people were. Naruto had started the day with a huge smile on his face and full of energy. However, by noon, Riko had the hardest time getting him to move around. He was dragging his feet and if it was possible, there'd be a little dark cloud hanging over his head.

"Hey, Naruto?"

"Mmyeah?" he answered looking at her.

The girl looked up at the sky which was now covered by dark clouds.

"I think we should take a lunch break. How about ramen like yesterday?"

Naruto's eyes lit up instantly.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, we have to go through the south-east sector to get to the east one. Why don't we stop at that place which we went to yesterday?"

"Yeah!"

Suddenly, Naruto was full of energy and ready to go again. Riko even almost had to run after him which, surprisingly to her, made her smile. Maybe spending time with a non-ANBU team was good after all.

Luckily, they had managed to reach yesterday's restaurant just before it started to rain. Sure, rain wasn't such a big deal but god was it raining hard today! The two sat down and waved at yesterday's clerk who smiled back at them. After they each ordered their lunch, the clerk asked them how their investigation was going and before Naruto could gloomily answer 'nowhere', Riko cut in with a fake smile and explained that the information the man had given them helped them a lot. Her answer made the man look like he was on cloud nine. When he was out of earshot, Naruto looked at Riko with a huge smile.

"What?" she asked him.

"You're actually awesome."

The girl looked at the blonde boy curiously.

"Why are you saying that?"

"Well you look like you're not good with people and complicated stuff like that but you actually are."

Riko rested her head on her hand thoughtfully.

"I'm not really…"

"Well, you just made that man's day, no?"

She looked back at the clerk who was preparing their ramen with a huge smile painted on his face. The girl really had made him happy. Seeing this, a warm feeling sparked inside of her which made her smile. When the boy saw her smile, his own grew even bigger.

_FLASH. BOOM._

The two of them jumped, not expecting the storm.

"Geez," said Naruto scratching the back of his head. "This storm is just as bad as last night's!"

"Last night…" mumbled Riko.

Her eyes grew wider as it all came back to her: the nightmares, the storm… Kakashi. Remembering how he had held her against him as she had her breakdown made her face flush and gave her butterflies in her stomach. What the hell was up with her?

"Hey, you okay?" asked Naruto seeing the girl's face turn beet red.

"Y-yeah!"

She was saved by the clerk when he arrived with two big bowls of ramen. With a huge smile, the man announced:

"For today, it's on the house guys! Enjoy!"

"Are you sure? We can pay…" said the girl uncomfortably.

"Yes, yes! I'm very sure!"

"Itadakimasu!" said Naruto happily before slurping away.

The two ate quietly as the storm raged behind them. Riko was deep in thought, reflecting on her nightmares. She was thankful that Kakashi hadn't asked anything because she wouldn't have known what to say. Those were very painful memories.

Yelling and screaming brought her back quickly to reality. The duo turned around and looked outside to see what was going on but it was hard for them to see anything with how heavy the rain was.

"Let's go check it out!" shouted Naruto.

"Okay, but stay close. We don't know what's out there," she told him with a very serious face.

They both walked outside and, shielding the rain from their eyes the best they could with their hands, they looked around. Following the barely perceptible movements and the screaming they finally found a group of men surrounding two guards. Villagers were standing around, some of them yelling at the men to go away, others screaming in fear.

_FLASH. BOOM._

With the lightning flash, they could see that the men all had their face hidden with scarves. Unfortunately, this also meant that these people saw the duo standing there. One of the men walked toward them. Riko grabbed her swords' handle with one hand while Naruto shouted:

"Leave those guards alone!"

"Stay out of this kid," shouted back the man.

Not liking his answer, Naruto ran to the man and with a hand sign, made a shadow clone of himself. While one distracted the man, the other one kicked him behind the head, making the big bulky man fall down.

_FLASH. BOOM._

The other men witnessed what happened and they split the group in two. While one part was busy beating up the guards, the others ran to the two ninjas. With his clone, Naruto ran toward them.

"Naruto, wait!" yelled out Riko.

_FLASH. BOOM._

But her order was drowned in the lightning that was becoming more and more frequent. Not wanting to leave Naruto fighting alone, Riko pulled out her swords with one hand and, with the other one, split them apart. She then ran toward the group and tried to reach the barely perceptible blonde kid fighting in the middle of the mass, being extra careful to hit the men with the back of her blades. Although they were attacking them, the girl felt like they were not a real threat and could perhaps even pull some information out of them.

_FLASH. BOOM._

With a quick glimpse at the yellow head, Riko changed the direction she was headed to. Fighting in this rain was really a mess and these men were persistent. The girl tried to keep her eyes on the boy.

_FLASH. BOOM._

Something was wrong. She was sure that Naruto would be about 2 meters in front of her. But during the last lighting flash, he had disappeared. Jumping up with the aid of the a few fallen men, she looked frantically around until she saw him. She wasn't sure but it seemed like someone was carrying him over their shoulder and running away.

_Shit, _she thought as she started running after them.

The other men that had attacked the guards quickly tried to block her way but she jumped over them, avoiding any kind of projectile that they threw toward her. However, once she landed behind them, she grew confused. Although she thought she had counted roughly 18 men, there was suddenly another 16 or 17 more men waiting on the other side, some fighting among them. What was going on?

She dashed through the group, still chasing after Naruto when a man seemed to come out of nowhere and headed directly for her. She swung her swords but the man swiftly dodged them and punched her directly in the stomach. The impact sent her back breathless on the ground. Riko got up as fast as she could with one arm against her stomach and trying to catch her breath. Focusing in front of her, she could see the man's silhouette running in her direction again very quickly. She braced herself for the impact but it didn't happen.

_FLASH. BOOM._

As the man was about to hit her, an arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her back. While doing so, the person behind her dodged the man's fist and hit him squarely in the face, knocking him out. Realizing that the person wasn't letting go, she turned around and tried to hit him with the sword handle in her right arm.

"Riko! Riko! It's me!" the man yelled behind her.

Recognizing the voice, the girl stopped struggling.

"Kakashi?"

He let her go and she turned around to face him.

"What's going on here?" he shouted through the storm.

"I don't know but someone took Naruto!" she answered quickly, pointing the way she saw them leave.

_FLASH. BOOM._

Kakashi nodded and turned around.

"Pakkun! Lead the troop that way! Find Naruto!"

Somewhere from around them, they heard several barks and saw numerous small figures move swiftly. When the two started running in the same direction, they heard an explosion in the distance. The duo stopped as the dogs kept running ahead. Turning around, they saw an explosion from above the mansion.

"That's Shikamaru!" said Kakashi. "You need to go to the mansion, now!"

"But, Naruto..." started the girl.

"I'll run after him, just go!" cut in the man.

Without discussing the order furthermore, the girl jumped up on the roofs buildings and then dashed toward the mansion. Gripping firmly her swords, the girl was careful not to run in anyone.

_FLASH. BOOM._

Finally, she reached the mansion and saw a dozen men crawling around the main room. From what Riko could understand, Shikamaru had locked and booby trapped the doors leading to the main room where the men were trying to go in. Someone had also turned off all the lights. Sneaking in, the girl bit her left thumb and through the crack of her right sleeve, wiped her bleeding thumb on the head of the dragon tattoo. While making a hand sign with her right hand, she whispered:

"I need you, Kinryu."

She felt the dragon take shape and slide out from her sleeve. The last thing she saw was its long snake like body with two wings glide silently in the air on her right. As she heard some men screaming, she dashed to her left and took out the others.

_FLASH. BOOM. _

When she thought that they were all taken out, she found a light and turned it on. While making a head count of the men that her dragon friend had brought back, she realized that there was still one missing. She looked at her dragon and, with a nod, it dashed back in the dark. After just a few minutes, she heard another scream. Kinryu had found him. She walked up quickly to where the noise came from and found her dragon wrapped around the man with its teeth sunk in his shoulder.

"Tell me who you are," she demanded with a cold voice that sent shivers down the man's back.

"We are the rebel! Long live the rebels!"

This man was obviously useless to her. She raised her swords to finish him when a voice behind her stopped her.

"Don't kill him!"

She turned around and noticed that it was one of the lord's body guards that had shouted.

"We thank you for your work but we will bring him into custody and interrogate him."

As he bowed thankfully, other guards came around the corner and took the rebel after her dragon friend had let go of him. Kinryu then swirled around the girl and resumed its position on her skin under her shirt. The remaining lights came back on. From another room, Shikamaru walked out followed by the feudal lord and his wife. Riko stared at him in confusion. She had thought that they were in the main room. The boy smiled slyly.

"I knew they'd try to catch us in the main room so I used it as a decoy. Also, where are Kakashi-sensei and Naruto?"

The girl looked down.

"Kakashi went after Naruto. I think someone kidnapped him..."

"Shit," mumbled Shikamaru.

_FLASH. BOOM._

The storm started to fade leaving behind it only the torrid rain.

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><p><strong>And cut. Awesome chapter, right?<strong>

**Anywho, let me know your thoughts, feelings, and opinions. I always love reading your reviews!**

**Share the love, write a review. I'll post the next chapter next week!**


	9. After the storm

**Hello! New chapter again!**

**There was uh no review for the last chapter so there won't be any mention of it here but thank you all for ****still ****reading this far !**

**Hope you all enjoy!**

_**Disclaimer**_**: I don't own Naruto, as per usual.**

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><p>While they waited for news from Kakashi, Riko went to her room to hang at least her shirt, leaving only her black top on, while Shikamaru was occupying the lord who had requested a report. They wanted to wait for their team leader to return before reporting anything to the feudal lord. On her way back to the main room, Riko caressed lovingly the dragon tattoo's head while whispering her thanks. As a response, she felt a lukewarm feeling coming from it. Like her dad had promised when he transferred its ownership to her, Kinryu was a formidable companion.<p>

Reaching the front of the mansion, she found Shikamaru standing in front of the main entrance.

"I thought you were occupying the feudal lord," she commented.

"I was but then they decided they were hungry for supper and took their leave," he said while opening the front door.

Walking on the front balcony, they both stood there, watching the rain gradually fade away.

"They really get some violent storms here..." mumbled Riko.

"Yeah, tell me about it."

They stood silent for a while. For some reason, the girl didn't feel pressured with talking with this boy. The more the time passed, the more she appreciated her non-ANBU team. The difference was nice.

"Hey, that's a nice tattoo you have there," commented the boy while motioning to her arm.

"Thanks. Family heritage," she briefly explained while rubbing her arm.

"Interesting," he mumbled looking off in the distance.

It took at least another hour of small chitchatting and shivering, as the rain had cooled down the outside temperature, until they saw a silhouette moving uphill toward them. Riko was the first one to realize that there was something missing.

"No..." she whispered.

Looking closely, they noticed that there was only Kakashi and his smallest dog, Pakkun. There was no Naruto. When the man got closer, it became clear that he was discouraged.

"The rain made it nearly impossible," explained Kakashi when he reached them.

"So we lost Naruto?" asked Shikamaru with an as-a-matter-of-fact attitude.

"Yeah..." the sensei answered.

Riko felt a shot of guilt. If she had kept a closer eye on the kid, this would have never happened.

"Your dogs can't track him down?" she asked in despair.

While Kakashi shook his head, the little dog spoke up.

"Hey missy, what do you take us for? Super dogs? It was damn impossible to smell or even see in this crazy rain, not to mention that all the scents have been washed away!" the dog ranted.

Unfortunately, she had known that. She was just really hoping for a miracle. Seeing how guilty the girl looked, Kakashi stared down his dog.

"Be nice, Pakkun. We all had a rough time."

"Damn ANBU ops. Think they own the damn world..." grumbled the dog.

"You're dismissed," ordered the man.

And with a puff of smoke, the dog was gone.

"We should go out and look for him," said Riko uncomfortably.

"In this kind of weather, we won't get anywhere. We'll need to wait till the sky clears up," Kakashi said in attempt to resonate with her.

"I guess..." she sighed.

They were then interrupted by a guard who came out.

"Lord Takara has requested to meet with you," announced the man.

"Very well," answered Kakashi.

They all walked in the mansion with the silver hair man following behind. While walking toward the room, he studied the girl walking in front of him. He could see the tattoo on her right arm that stretched under her black tank top which was still very humid. In fact, all her clothing was still very humid and stuck to her skin which made her look oh so damn hot.

Feeling stared at, Riko looked behind her at the man who looked away in time. Thankfully, because his mask, most of his blushing was hidden but not all of it, which didn't stop the girl from noticing. Looking back in front of her, the girl felt herself blush too. She had never thought of herself as attractive and having another man stare at her like that made her feel... well she didn't know how to call it but it was different.

Reaching the main room, they kneeled down in front of the feudal lord and his wife. They didn't bow, as lord Takara had requested that they don't, but it felt strange to them. The man looked at the team.

"You are missing a teammate?" he asked with a voice full of concern.

"Unfortunately," Kakashi answered.

"What happened?"

"We...aren't quite sure," said the team leader looking at the girl who was sitting on his left.

"We were attacked by numerous men who had their faces hidden with scarves," she explained.

The lord's eyes grew dark.

"The rebels..." he mumbled.

"You believe that it was them sir?" asked Kakashi.

"Yes, I am almost certain," said the lord with a nod. "And the events strangely coincide with today's attack here. I am also thankful for your great work!"

Shikamaru and Riko nodded in thanks.

"Additionally, I do certainly hope that you can find you friend. I will ask all my guards to keep an eye out for him," Takara continued. "On a different note, how is your investigation advancing?"

"We are making some progress. As far as we know, we believe that the south-east sector may be upset about the management. However, we have no right to comment on this. Thus, we are trying to see if we can find a work around. Aside from that, they are not a very chatty group," reported Kakashi.

The feudal lord seemed satisfied. After thanking the group for coming, he offered to ask his servants to bring supper in their private kitchen which the group gladly accepted. They then stayed silent until they reached the privacy of their kitchen. Once they were in, Kakashi took off his vest and shirt and hung them on a chair to let them dry, leaving him only in his under shirt. After making sure they were alone, Shikamaru asked:

"So we are keeping quiet about what we found?"

"Yes, for a good reason," answered the sensei.

They all sat down around their table, waiting for their supper. Kakashi took advantage of this time to continue on a quieter tone:

"I have met with Ren, the owner of the pleasure house. He presented me with this incredible story of where he had saved the lord's life. In exchange for his courage, Takara would have given him the management of the sector. However, this story is just too good to be true and the man was uncomfortable with talking with me. He seemed really like the kind of man to be playing in the shadows. We really need to be careful about him."

"Beside, why would lord Takara try to hide so badly this story?"

"I have a feeling that this Ren and lord Takara are trying to hide something bigger and more embarrassing..." said Riko.

"My thoughts are the same," added Kakashi while looking at the girl who looked down to avoid his stare.

"But how do we find out more?" asked Shikamaru.

"We'll have to keep digging. We don't really have any other choice," answered the team leader.

A few more minutes passed before several servants came in with food. Once again, Kakashi picked out some food for his plate but didn't eat anything while the other two were there. Shikamaru was the first one to finish his plate.

"I'm beat and it's actually very quiet without Naruto around. I think I'll take advantage of this and sleep it off," he said getting up. "Good night."

The other two bid him good night and he left. Once he was gone, the girl asked awkwardly:

"How can he not care more than that about Naruto disappearing?"

"Well, he's like that. Beside, Naruto is always full of surprises. I'd actually wouldn't be surprise if he was just doing fine somewhere in hiding right now," answered the man truthfully while still trying to make her feel better.

She looked down at her almost empty plat. There were now several things which she felt bad about and really needed to apologize, which she did.

"I'm sorry..."

Kakashi looked surprised.

"Elaborate?"

"Well, first I'm sorry about losing Naruto like that. I feel like it was my responsibility and I failed at it," she said without looking up.

The man chuckled.

"Oh, trust me. Don't worry about that. Even as his sensei, I always had a hard time keeping him in line. Hell, first mission out of Konoha and he was already all over the place trying to show that he was better than his rival and teammate but he also showed me that he was capable of great things. That kid is really full of surprises. Now, what else is bothering you?"

Riko looked up at the man, unsure. She then said:

"I also want to apologize for my attitude yesterday evening. I still believe I shouldn't have been angry like that."

Kakashi smiled under his mask. "Don't be sorry about it. You just showed us all that you can be human and have emotions like the rest of us!"

The girl took the time to take a few more bites from her plate. After munching on it for a few minutes, she then swallowed and took the courage to finally say:

"And I'm incredibly sorry for last night. I feel bad for waking you up."

The man grew serious.

"Honestly Riko, I was already awake because of the storm."

The girl looked back down. Seeing how serious he was made her feel uncomfortable and shy. Remembering how he had held her against him while she had been crying made a light pink blush appear on her cheeks. The way she was feeling really confused her as she had never felt like this before. Curious, the man leaned in a bit and studied her face. Surprised by his sudden staring, Riko got up and mumbled nervously:

"I-I should go to sleep!"

"Wait!" said Kakashi as he got up and blocked her way out. "I'm sorry if I did anything to make you feel uncomfortable."

He then got closer, resisting the sudden urge of touching her. Having her (alone!) with only her tank top on was becoming a real tease to him but he tried the best he could to hold back. After last night, he knew how fragile she could be. Lightly putting his hands on his shoulder, he told her softly:

"Look, if you ever need anything just let me know, okay?"

The girl nodded nervously. His warm touch on her shoulders was creating this warm fuzzy feeling inside her. Then out of the blue, she surprised herself by saying:

"Do you know why I was so upset last night when I woke up?"

What the hell was wrong with her? She never shared this kind of personal information with anyone!

"You said something about them being all dead... but I don't know who you were referring to," he hesitantly said.

"My parents... Both of them died, in a very horrible yet different way. My...dad died at the hands of my clan...and my mom..." Riko swallowed her. Although she had felt the urge of sharing this with someone for the first time, it was still very painful. "...she couldn't get over the fact that she had lost my dad and almost lost me. So...she committed..."

She stopped. Her breathing was getting heavier as she felt pure pain in her heart. Seeing her struggle like that, Kakashi tightened his grip on her shoulder. She looked down and seeing that she didn't know how to say it, he said in a quiet voice:

"I also lost my dad to suicide. I know how hard it is so thank you for sharing this with me."

Riko looked up at the man with a strange expression in her eyes. She had never found anyone that could calm the pain in her heart. After what seemed like an eternity, the girl backed away from him.

"T-thank you," she said clearly embarrassed.

Kakashi leaned down and, with his mask still on, he kissed her on her head. This action made her face become beet red. Seeing this, the man chuckled.

"You know, you look lovely when you blush."

The girl stood there, unsure what to say or do. She was feeling many different things right now and it embarrassed her that she couldn't label them. The best she could pull out of all of it was that she felt attracted to him. Snapping her out of her thoughts, Kakashi offered:

"Did you want me to walk you back to your room?"

Without looking at him, she answered really quickly:

"N-no thank you! Uh...good night. See you tomorrow!"

And almost as quickly as she had said this, she had walked around Kakashi and out of the kitchen with her face still red. Once she was gone, he sat back down in front of his full plate, thoughtful. Right now, he was attracted to her on many different levels. The best he could do to calm down his urges was to take out his Icha Icha Paradise and read while eating. However, even this didn't seem as interesting.

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><p><strong>And here you all go! Thank you for reading through.<strong>

**Share the love, write a review.**


	10. A life as an ANBU

**Hi everyone, sorry for being a day late. I'm suffering a bit from a writer's block... I'll try to make sure to have the next chapter up in time.**

**If you have any suggestions or ideas, as always, feel free to message me.**

**Also, thank you ****_jessie darke _for your lovely review. I'm glad you thought that of the last chapter.**

_**Disclaimer: **_**I don't own Naruto.**

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><p>The next morning was a tad awkward. Turns out that Riko still hadn't figured out how to label her feelings just yet so when she woke up, she took a very long shower in order to waist as much time as possible. When she finally got the courage to go to the kitchen, mostly because of her growling stomach, she found her two remaining teammates sitting at the table, speaking calmly. Riko made breakfast, took a deep breath, and sat at the table with them. The two continued their conversation without paying any attention to her.<p>

"So basically, we need to find Naruto while keeping an eye on the feudal lord..." said Shikamaru thoughtfully.

"And no one should stay alone anymore, in case of another ambush," added Kakashi.

"How do we do that? We're an odd number now," asked the black hair boy.

"Hm.."

Catching on to their conversation, Riko spoke up after swallowing her bite.

"Well I think that if Shikamaru stays with lord Takara and alerts us of any problem like he did last time, we won't have to worry. Besides, he might be able to also find more info."

"I guess that could do. That means that you and I will go look for Naruto together," said the silver man while looking at her with a hidden smile.

She looked down at her bowl of cereal. She hadn't thought about that part. Both a feeling of excitement and awkwardness occupied her at that thought.

"Yeah, that sounds like a plan. Since we have nothing more to speak of, I'll go meet the feudal lord. We're meeting for supper?" said Shikamaru.

Kakashi simply nodded in answer and the boy was gone. Once he was sure that the black hair boy was out of earshot, the silver man looked at the girl carefully.

"You're late this morning," he brought up.

"Yeah, I...had some sleep to catch up I guess," answered the girl before taking her bowl in her hands and swallowing the rest.

Then, without a word, she got up and put away her dishes. As she finished doing so, Kakashi got up. When she was done, he asked:

"Ready to go?"

"Yeah," she quickly answered.

Walking together, they stepped outside of the mansion and looked at the view that they had of the village. Looking carefully, they both started thinking about where it would be best to look for clues about Naruto. At the end, they both ended up with the same conclusion: the south-east sector. As Kakashi stepped forward to go down the hill in the right direction, Riko stopped him.

"Wait. We will need a pair of eyes above ground too."

The silver man looked at her curiously, not quite understanding what she meant. Without bothering to explain, she bit her left thumb and wiped the blood on the head of the dragon tattoo on her right arm.

"Kinryu, I need you," she whispered.

Answering her call, the dragon took shape and came out of her sleeve. It then swirled around her until its full length was floating around her body and faced her. Without a word, they stared at each other for a few seconds and with a nod, it flew high in the sky, in the direction of the sector that they were heading to.

"Okay, now we can go," she said while already walking down the hill.

Quickly, Kakashi caught up to her.

"Was that a summoning jutsu?" he asked while revising his knowledge of summoning jutsus in his head.

As far as he knew, there was no one known for summoning dragons. In fact, no one was sure that they even existed.

"Not quite," she simply answered.

Seeing that she wasn't going to explain any further as she was a person of few words, he decided to push further to satisfy his curiosity.

"Then what kind of jutsu is it?" carefully choosing his question.

"A ninjutsu passed down by my family," she said while shaking her shoulders.

The fact was that it was a very complicated jutsu that couldn't simply be explained. It worked only with the Ryuu blood and anyone who would try to take control of Kinryu would suffer quite miserably as their blood and chakra type wouldn't match the dragon's need. In fact, the dragon was really alive only because it fed on the owner. Basically, it was really an extension of the user.

Seeing that she wouldn't elaborate on the subject, he looked up at the slightly still visible figure of the dragon, wondering if his sharingan would be able to understand the technique. However, he let the thought slip away as they reached the sector that they were heading to. As they walked around, he noticed how the villagers took the time to stop and stare at them. This was quite different to their previous reaction. Surprisingly though, their stares weren't hostile like before. Something had changed.

Also noticing this difference, Riko looked at the man by her side and suggested:

"Maybe they can help us find Naruto."

The man nodded in agreement. Their investigation started here. Unfortunately, all they could gather was bits of information and rumours here and there. Some would talk about how the attack from yesterday was unusual. Apparently, the rebels were never this straight forward. In fact, they would actually intervene only when the villagers were in trouble. Others even went as far as to theorize that it may have not been the rebels that had attacked yesterday but impostors. Although this could explain some odd occurrences noted by Riko, the question that came up was: why would anyone fake being the rebels?

Through this huge web of information from these surprisingly now talkative people, there was very few hints about Naruto whereabouts. There was a few people who had pretended to have seen a blond kid with an orange jumpsuit but every time Kakashi and Riko had went to given location to investigate, they had found nothing.

When the sun was high in the sky, indicating that it was slightly past lunch time, Riko's stomach growled in need. Looking at the girl, Kakashi chuckled.

"Hungry?"

"Yeah, I guess," she said while putting her hands on her stomach that seemed to have taken the bad habit of growling out its needs. "Aren't you?"

"No, not really but I guess we do need a break. Any ideas about where to go?"

"Mmm, we could go to that ramen place that Naruto and I would go to during our lunch times," she said while already looking around to see in what direction to go.

The man gave her a funny look. "Haven't you been eating ramen for the last few days?"

"Yeah?" she answered, unsure where he was getting at.

"You're going to have ramen intoxication if you keep this going."

"Apparently, it's not possible according to Naruto," she said as she started heading off in the direction of the ramen shop.

Following her, Kakashi scratched his head. "I really don't think that he's a good reference…"

Riko smiled knowingly. "Yeah, I know. Actually, I want to go there because I always seem to have some kind of luck with finding something when I'm there."

The man sighed. "You're just trying to find an excuse to eat ramen again."

"And you're just trying to find an excuse not to take off your mask."

As soon as she had said those words, Riko wished that she could take them back. It wasn't her intention to let anyone know about her curiosity with his mask. First thing she knew, the man had already caught up to her and was looking down at her.

"Oh? Have you fallen victim to the mystery of my mask already?" he asked with an obvious smile hidden under his mask.

"Victim? No. Just curious about what you have to hide so badly."

"I think that counts. Beside, don't we all have something to hide?"

The girl ignored him. It wasn't that she had something to hide but she did not like to share personal information about herself. Too often have people taken advantage of her. Seeing her reaction, Kakashi wondered if he had gone maybe too far. He remained quiet as they walked the rest of the way to the ramen shop. When they walked in the little shop, the clerk greeted them:

"Ah! Ms. ninja! You came with someone different today?"

Riko painted a smile on her face.

"Yes, I did! It would seem like my friend is M.I.A. today," she quickly replied.

"Haha, those kids. Always in need of a break! So am I serving you the same thing as usual?"

"Yes, please."

The clerk then looked at Kakashi who seemed amaze by the girl's new way of acting.

"And for you?"

"Nothing for me. I'm actually not hungry," politely refused the man.

"Okay, but you don't know what you're missing!" the clerk said as he left.

Taking the far seat on the right, Kakashi sat on it and leaned back on the wall all while taking out his little orange book.

"Not only are you making me eat on my own, you're also going to read your book and be antisocial?" asked the girl with a voice full of sarcasm.

Surprised, the man stared at her over his book. Under normal circumstances, the girl wouldn't have cared less about being on her own but after spending a few days with a very chatty Naruto, she had gotten used to the company. Now interested, he lowered his book a bit. This was a side of her that he had never seen and, of course, he wanted to explore it much more.

"I can read and talk at the same time," he told her.

"You're strange," she mumbled while leaning on the table.

"How so?"

"You can basically read that book and do anything at the same time. That's not normal."

"Look who's talking about normal," said the man amused.

The girl tilted her head sideways, not understanding his reference.

"How come you were admitted in the ANBU so young?" he asked.

"I was a special case. Weren't you also admitted in the ANBU at a very young age?"

"I was a special case," answered the man using her exact words.

The girl frowned. She was starting to understand the frustration of getting nearly no answers from others. However, her curiosity pushed her to continue. Thinking that it might help her label her feelings about that man, she wanted to know more about him. Looking at the man who had kept reading his book, she asked:

"Why did you leave the ANBU?"

"Why do you want to know? Are you thinking of leaving yourself?"

"No. I just don't understand why someone who had such an honorable name would quit the ANBU organization."

"I believe that I still have a good name though," said the man slightly amused.

"True…"

Their conversation was interrupted by the clerk who came back with Riko's order.

"Oh yeah, I didn't have the time to thank you yet for yesterday!" he told her on a cheerful tone.

"Hm?"

"Yeah! If you hadn't intervened with the rebels, we would have been once again punished for their action."

"Punished?" asked Kakashi.

"Yes. Ren does not like having rebels in his sector wreaking havoc and causing shame to lord Takara. Although some think it's just an excuse for him to take away our goods, we still want to avoid giving him any good reasons to do so."

Although Kakashi didn't say another word and kept reading his book, it was obvious by his serious face that he was deep in thought.

"Thank you also for your kindness," added Riko.

The man nodded and walked away. Once that he was gone in the back, the girl looked at the man.

"Would that explain why it seems that all this sector's goods have beeb invested in the pleasure house?"

"Possibly…" answered the silver hair man.

They remained silent, both lost in their thoughts, as Riko ate her bowl. Then, realizing that they were losing the moment that they were having, Kakashi decided to go back to their previous topic.

"Why are you in the ANBU?"

The girl continued eating in silence while thinking. Why was she in the ANBU?

"Because I have nothing else," she carefully answered.

"Well, I'm sure you have something. What did you have before the ANBU? Weren't you with a team?"

The girl shook her head as she chewed on a bite of ramen. She then swallowed and answered: "I was recommended by the Third Hokage to the ANBU as soon as I have graduated from the academy. They didn't have time to put me in a team. I was directly assigned with an ANBU member to be trained properly."

The man started thinking. He thought about family but then remembered what she had told him about her parents. It was becoming clear that she wasn't lying. She really didn't know anything else than her ANBU career.

"Didn't you find it hard to go directly in an ANBU team right after the academy?"

"It wasn't hard because I had no training before being in the ANBU, but because I had a very… dedicated sensei," she answered bitterly at the thought.

"He discriminated you because of your age?" he guessed.

"Something like that…"

She didn't want to elaborate too much on that subject. Thinking back to her first sensei only brought her anger. He hadn't been rough with her because of her age but because he had never accepted the fact that the Hokage himself had referred her to the ANBU. He had hated her and made her go through hell while she had kept her mouth shut, afraid to lose her position in the organisation. It was only when he had tried to get her killed during a very complicated mission that the higher ups had discovered the truth.

"Have you ever thought about quitting the organisation?" he asked her, snapping her out of her thoughts.

Lifting her bowl and looking at the remaining broth, the girl answered: "Why would I?"

As she was drinking away the bowl, the man suggested:

"Because you might not agree with their way of thinking?"

Finishing her bowl and putting it down, she looked at the man who was still reading his book. Was that the reason why he had left?

"Even if I did, what would I do? Quit the organisation and be a normal lonely ninja doing lower rank missions? I'm used to what I'm doing and am quite satisfied with it."

The man did everything he could not to look at her. He thought back to how she had changed for the best over the last few days. She actually seemed like she was enjoying her mission with this team now and it hadn't escaped Kakashi's notice.

"Are you really?" he finally asked.

Not appreciating being put in doubt, Riko decided that it was time to change this conversation around.

"Why am I being asked all the questions again? I feel like I'm facing an interrogation again."

"Again?"

"Not the point."

Kakashi chuckled.

"Okay, okay. How about you ask me some questions?"

She stopped and thought about what she could ask him. Looking at her briefly, Kakashi noticed how cute she seemed while thinking of something not too serious.

"How do you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Walk around, talk, and probably even eat, all while reading that book!"

He shook his shoulders, a bit surprised by the question she chose to ask. "You get used to it. When you have a very good book, you learn how to read it all the time."

The girl tilted her head and scanned the book with her purple eyes.

"What kind of book is it?"

Kakashi gave her a funny look, unsure whether she was kidding or not.

"What?" she asked innocently.

"You really don't know this book?" he said while finally closing his book and showing her the cover.

"No? Why would I ask if I did?"

Realizing that she was actually serious, the silver hair man was taken aback.

"Have you been living under a rock?"

"It's that popular?" asked the girl growing more and more curious.

"Well… yes! It was written by the legendary sannin Jaraya!"

"Really? Can I read it?" she asked now extremely interested.

"No!" he shouted a bit too quickly.

Now knowing that she didn't know what this book was, Kakashi was trying desperately to find a way to keep its content unknown to her, afraid of what kind of opinion she would have of him. Sure it was a pretty darn good book but not many people had the same opinion.

"Come on, let me read it!" she said while not understanding the man's reaction.

She tried to take the book out of his hand but he swiftly brought it over his head. When she got up to try to get it, he got up himself, taking advantage of his height. He felt his face grow warm when she got extremely closed to him and stretched up to get the book, not realizing how her body rubbed against his as she tried to do so.

"No! I'm sure you have plenty of other interesting books to read!"

"Actually, I don't and I'm dying to read a good book!"

"You like to read?" he asked.

"Yeah?"

"What kind of book do you like?" he asked, trying to change the subject all while keeping his book away from her.

"Mmm, I'd say adventures. What about you?"

The man chuckled at their currently weird way of sharing about themselves.

"Something like adventures."

"Then that book must be good then!"

"No! Get your own book!" he shouted out desperately as they came back on the subject of his book.

Amused but his way of acting, Riko decided to push the matter further.

"You know that the more you're trying to keep it away from me, the more I'm going to try to take it, right?"

"I don't care. This book is… too good to give it to you," he replied as coolly as he could.

But it was obvious that he was panicked.

"Come on, what's so embarrassing about this book?"

"You just don't want to know."

"But what if I do?"

Tired of trying to get the book this way, the girl finally changed her method. At Kakashi's surprise, she punched him in the stomach, making him bend in two, and caught the book in his hands. She then hid the book behind her back as he got back up.

"That's playing dirty!" he said, his ego clearly hurt.

"No, that's called getting finding a way around a problem."

She then froze and her eyes grew wide opened. Confused, the man stared down at her, wondering what was wrong.

"You okay?" he asked, forgetting about the book.

"I… think Kinryu found Naruto."

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><p><strong>And that's it. Please feel free to message me with any ideas or suggestions. I do already have the main idea of the story down but it's making all the connections that sometimes get complicated...<strong>

**Anyhow****, share the love, write a review!**


	11. What happens behind the scenes

**Hi everyone, I'm sorry about the late update. I usually write during my work since we receive less calls during the summer but there seems to be a lot of technical issues recently so it's a bit hectic here. Thus, the next few updates are going to be a bit sporadic until everything calms down here. **

**This chapter is a bit short but I already started writing the next chapter and it should be much longer.**

**Thank you all for your patience!**

**_Disclaimer_: I do not own Naruto.**

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><p>Being left guarding the lord might be a tad boring but it didn't really bother Shikamaru. It gave him really an opportunity to gather information no matter how devoid of info these servants were. Besides, spending his days at the mansion wasn't too stressful but the boy did miss being able to look up at the sky since the feudal lord and his wife rarely went outside.<p>

Through his research, Shikamaru had discovered that the feudal lord used to be quite different than what he was now. He used to go outside all the time, walk through the sectors and socialize with the people. Once again, it had all changed at the same time than everything else, 20 years ago. So, at the bottom line, the question remained: what happened 20 years ago?

Today had mostly been a day like any other. Although there was some chatting about Naruto's disappearance, the servants would mostly speak of the same things than usual. It was actually becoming so boring.

There was still some things that were worthy of his attention today. First thing that the boy noticed was the guards. Just yesterday, there was a huge coup, here, at the mansion. Yet, today there aren't more guards than there usually is. In fact, Shikamaru counted about three guards less than usual. What could have been the reason? Did lord Takara feel safe enough with only the hidden leaf ninjas around that he would drop his guards? Did they not worry about another attack?

However, there was another thing that caught his attention. Not only were there less guards, some of them had different attires from the usual guards. At first, the boy thought that it meant that they were better skilled. During lunch, he discovered that it wasn't the fact. While eating lunch by himself in the private kitchen, a servant had come in to bring more water for the ninja. Before he had the time to leave, Shikamaru had insisted that he stayed to chat. After talking about small things, he asked him about the guards that were dressed differently. That was when that the boy learned that Ren, owner of the pleasure house, had sent some of his guard to protect the lord as he was worried about his safety. Was that really a reason to cut down the amount of guards in the mansion?

Their conversation also eventually led to how none of the servants were from the south-east sector. At first, Shikamaru thought that it was because of the rebels and the coup that had been happening. However, with the chatting old servant, he eventually established that this was the case even before the rebels were formed. Something was being hidden from the south-east sector and he really started to hope that he would figure it out. After hearing the information that Riko and Naruto had gathered, Shikamaru had been left thoughtful. Lord Takara had been known for his charisma and generosity. Many felt like that had changed after he declared Ren as head of the south-east sector. That thought had been reinforced when the feudal lord had turned a blind eye to the people's suffering. After spending a few days in the mansion, however, the boy had come to realize how the lord's personality hadn't changed as much as others thought. Sure, his habits changed and it was clearly obvious that he was hiding something, but after seeing how caring the lord still was about everything and getting the feeling that he was really holding back his desire to intervene in the people's affair, Shikamaru started to wonder if lord Takara was really the main cause for the rebels. It actually seemed to him that someone was and still is using the lord as a scapegoat. However, in order to use someone as powerful as the feudal lord, they must have had a way to keep his arm tied behind his back. What could this be?

After lunch, the boy resumed his position near the main room where lord Takara was attending to various manners. By standing near the front door, he could monitor everyone coming in and out. Shikamaru had also insisted to leave the door of the main room a tad open in order for the boy to listen. This way, if anything happened, he would know right away. The afternoon went smoothly as the lord worked on a few things. Just as lord Takara was finishing up and preparing to leave, an unexpected guest arrived at the mansion. Indeed, a servant that did not work at the mansion, ran in to announce the honourable Ren's arrival.

Surprised, lord Takara quickly walked the entrance of the mansion to greet his friend. Following closely behind, Shikamaru saw the feudal lord's expression change as he grew closer. The authoritative aura he usually had around him seemed to diminish.

"Ren, what a surprise to see you here! What could I possibly do for you?" asked lord Takara as he saw the man standing in the entrance.

"Lord Takara, I'm sorry for coming here without any warning. I'm actually here to talk to you," the man explained. Then, seeing Shikamaru standing behind the man, he added: "...privately, if possible."

The feudal lord's expression grew serious. He understood an understatement that was unknown to the others around him. With a quick nod, he turned around and faced the guards and servants.

"I must apologize but I will need some private time with Ren. Please make sure that the main room is unoccupied."

Everyone bowed and left, leaving Shikamaru standing behind the man alone.

"You must leave too, Shikamaru. I will call you once we are done."

"Are you sure, my lord?" asked the boy carefully, letting the man know that he was worried for his safety.

"Yes, yes. If you stay just outside the main room, I'm sure that it will still be safe," the man answered cheerfully.

Without another word, Shikamaru bowed and walked away. It was clear that their conversation ended there. He quickly walked away and after turning a corner, he looked around to make sure that no one was around. Something was going on and his instinct was telling him that it will help him clear up some confusion. Once he was positive that no one could see him, he made a handsign and created a clone of himself. Already knowing what he had to do, it nodded and walked to the front door of the main room to keep guard like the regular Shikamaru was expected to.

The black hair boy then quickly walked the other way, making sure to be unnoticed. The advantage with the last attack was that he now knew the main room like the back of his hand. Thus, going through another hallway and reaching the back of the kitchen where light barely reached, he knew that there was a trap door on the ceiling there. After making sure once again that no one knew he was there, he climbed up in the attic. Slowly, on his belly, he crawled until he reached the main room and could hear voices.

"Okay, let's cut the chase short. What do you want Ren?" asked a voice whom Shikamaru recognized as the lord's.

"Oh ho, so much familiarity suddenly! What have I ever done to you to deserve such treatment?" the second voice answered mockingly.

"You know very well. There is no need for me to explain myself. Now, you're obviously here for something. Isn't having a whole sector to yourself enough? Haven't you gotten enough money from these poor people?"

Ren chuckled.

"There will be never enough money but fear not. I am not here to request anything too extravagant. Actually, I simply want those ninjas gone."

"That is a request that I cannot accomplish."

"And why is that?"

"Because I hired them personally to protect me."

"Funny. I feel like they are doing much more than just protect you."

"Of course, they just want to understand better the situation in order to do their job."

"In other words, you want them to discover your dirty secret?"

"Of course not but now that their teammate has gone missing, they won't stop at anything to find what's wrong with your sector."

"I've got nothing to do with the kidnapping," said Ren harshly, his voice losing any kind of friendliness.

"Never you said you did," answered lord Takara with an as-a-matter-of-fact tone.

"I don't know what you're planning, but you will regret it if you step out of line," warned Ren.

"Why, I only have the best interest for my people! Beside, these ninjas are to protect me from the rebels that you can't control, may I remind you."

"You will regret it," hissed the second man.

And from what Shikamaru could here, the owner of the pleasure house stormed out of the room. Soon after, lord Takara came out of the room and looked at the clone whom he thought to be the ninja.

"Thank you for your patience. I will be retreating to my room with my wife, if I need anything more, I will call you."

The clone nodded. Once the lord was gone, Shikamaru opened the airway trap that was in the ceiling of the main room and went in. Quickly, without being noticed, he took his clone's place, as it disappeared, and headed the opposite direction that the lord had left. While walking, Shikamaru reviewed the new information he had gained. Turns out that Ren and the lord were hiding something. Also, Ren was the kind of man to play in the shadows which meant that the team would have to be extra careful.

Lord Takara was a good man after all and it would seem that he did want the ninjas to help him with the business he had with Ren. But what was stopping him from asking them directly?

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><p><strong>And that's all. Next update shouldn't take as long.<strong>

****Share the love, write a review! **Thanks!**


	12. The rebels

**Hi guys, I tried not to make you all wait too long. Like I said, a few chapters back, it's a bit crazy at work right now but I'm still managing!**

**Anyways, enjoy this chapter!**

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><p>Although the girl had seemed distracted during their lunch time, Kakashi had been surprised that in reality, Riko had not stopped looking for Naruto. While they had been chatting at the ramen restaurant, she had made sure to keep looking through Kinryu, her dragon tattoo. It was moments like this that reminded the man that she was an ANBU. Though it was enough to make him forget sometimes that she was an ANBU member, a few days with a team that were not black ops was, of course, not enough to get rid of all her habits. It was almost like asking a wolf to be a sheep.<p>

While running through the streets, Kakashi was lost in thoughts. He wondered if they would have worked together, if he was still a black op today. Remembering why he had quit the organisation in the first place, he pushed the thought away. He was glad that he wasn't an ANBU today. He just wished that he could show Riko his point of view on the matter. In times like this, when she was acting like an actually black op, she felt like she was out of his reach or even in another world.

As they turned around another corner, the girl stopped suddenly. Barely avoiding her, he stopped next to her and looked at her. She seemed completely dumbstruck.

"What's up?" he asked.

He then looked in front of them and saw what she saw: there, walking in the middle of the roads with other people was Naruto. He was freely walking with a man, that seemed to be about twenty years old, to whom he was talking like they were best friends. This man seemed to be the first to notice the two shinobis presence. When he stopped to look at the two dumbstruck people that were standing there, staring at them, Naruto looked in the same direction and finally noticed them.

"Kakashi-sensei! Riko!"

He ran up to them while waving his hand in the air. The man that was by his side followed him closely. When the blonde kid reached the two adult, he seemed to notice their expression.

"What's that face for?"

"Naruto… We thought you had been kidnapped," said Kakashi slowly, unsure what to think.

"Oh that! Hehe.." Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Well I was kidnapped…"

"Naruto… What I think Kakashi is trying to say is that not in a million year has anyone seen the strange phenomenon of a person that was kidnapped walking just randomly in the streets," added Riko.

Naruto looked down. "It's really a long and complicated story."

He then looked at the man behind him, silently asking him something. The man, staring down at him, nodded in response.

"But not here," he completed out loud his silent answer.

"I'll explain everything but not in the middle of the street," said Naruto seriously to his two teammates.

Motioning for them to follow him, Naruto started walking with the mysterious man in a specific direction. The two adults looked at each other to notice that they were just as equally confused as the other one. This wasn't turning to be something that could have expected even in a million year. Quietly, they followed the two people through the crowd, trying to look as relax as they were. Truth was, it was hard to relax without really knowing what was going on. What seemed to be a simple protection mission was gradually turning out to be a much more complicated one which included tones of mysteries.

They had to walk until they reached the outside limits of the sector. If the south-east sector in general had seemed in poor shape, this part was even worse. Without a word, the twenty years old man guided them in between two buildings and after going over a fence, they stood in front of door that barely was able to stay closed. Thankfully though, over the door, there was a little part of the roof that stretched over it. This way, with all the torrid rain this village was getting, very little of the rain went in the house. Thinking about the rain, Riko looked up quickly before going in the house. The sun that was shining not too long ago was now hidden again by some dark clouds.

Once all four of the people walked inside, an older woman, about the lord's age, that was sitting on the ground near the fireplace nervously looked up in fear. She then quickly looked around as if looking for something to defend herself with. Seeing her reaction, the young man that was accompanying the group said in a soft voice:

"It's okay mother. They're not here to take me away."

She looked doubtful but calmed down a bit.

"Then what are they doing here? I told you that it would be dangerous if that kid brought his friends here."

"They're here to learn the story of this country. The real story."

Once again, Riko and Kakashi looked at each other, confused as ever. What in the bloody hell was up with all this?

"I swear they are good people, miss Kokoro," said Naruto in a pleading voice. "If you want us to help you then they need to know too!"

"That's enough of you!" said the woman harshly to the blonde kid. She then looked up to her son and said bitterly: "Hiroko, don't you think that we have told enough people already? Aren't you scared that we will get killed for spilling out the truth?"

While this whole unclear conversation had caught his interest, Kakashi was starting to feel uncomfortable. He felt like he was given something that shouldn't be in his hand and started wondering if he should have really come here in the first place. Looking down at Riko that was still standing beside him, he was surprised to see that she was not nervous at all. She actually seemed thoughtful as she watched the scene happen before her eyes. Analyzing everything that was said, she was trying to answer her own questions.

"I'm tired of living in hiding! We need to take action and with Ren constantly bringing us down, we won't get anywhere without any help."

"And we can help ma'am! We're here for that. We're good people," added Naruto.

The woman looked at her son with a new emotion reflecting in her eyes. She understood what he meant and desired the same thing but fear made her reticent. After staring at him then at Naruto silently, she finally nodded slowly. The two boys' determination created a spark of hope in her. She then silently looked at the two young adults that were still standing awkwardly in the entrance, unsure whether they should wait outside or not, although inside seemed more like an appropriate idea seeing how it had started raining again.

"Please excuse my rude welcome. Make yourself at home while I make some tea," she told the two while getting up.

When the woman left the room to walk in the kitchen, the group gradually sat down in a circle on the ground in front of the fireplace. Now that Kakashi took the time to look around, he realized that there were not many furniture in the house. This family was very poor. Riko looked at Hiroko but the man seemed to want to wait for his mother to come back before explaining anything. So to cover the awkward silence, Naruto decided to speak up.

"So this is where I have been since what happened…" he started slowly. Seeing how the two only nodded without saying a word, he continued: "The lady that you saw was Kokoro and him," he said while pointing at the man "is Hiroko."

Distracted, Riko simply nodded as she continued looking at her surroundings. Finally, after a few long minutes, the woman came back with some tea. Sitting down slowly beside her son, she handed out the tea cups to her guests. Waiting for her to sip of her tea, Naruto asked:

"Can I start the story?"

The woman looked at him then nodded. Excited, Naruto sat up straight. Whatever he was going to say seemed very important which caught the two shinobis' full attention.

"Yesterday, those guys that we fought weren't who we thought they were," he started.

"So they were not the rebels?" asked the silver man.

"No, they were dressed like us but they were certainly not us," confirmed Hiroko with a firm nod.

"You are part of the rebels?" asked Kakashi curiously.

The young man simply nodded.

"I was taken away by one of these masked man but was rescued by Hiroko," continued Naruto.

"Then who were they?" Riko said as she joined the conversation.

"We aren't sure yet but we have reason to believe that they may have been men under Ren's control," explained the rebel.

"Why Ren?" asked the black hair girl.

Hiroko looked toward the fireplace absently. Looking at him, Riko could see his jaw clenched. Something about Ren really upset him.

"He uses us as an excuse to pull more money from this sector. Since he ran out of reasons to take money away from us, he started persecuting all of us for any act related to the rebels. Seeing this, we minimized our activities in order to reduce the people's suffering but that didn't last for very long. Unknown men started dressing like us and act under the rebels' name. We haven't discovered who they are yet but we are sure that Ren must have something with it."

"In other words, the previous attack at the mansion wasn't you either," replied the silver hair man.

The young man shook his head.

"But we have captured someone. We can try to pull some information out of him," pointed out Riko.

Kakashi nodded in agreement.

"I doubt that he would speak, though," said the young rebel, doubtful.

"Oh, I have some ways. Don't worry about that," responded Riko with a hint of wickedness in her voice.

At her reply, both Naruto and Kakashi stared at her, surprised by what they heard.

"What?" she asked confused.

Naruto swallowed. "You… kind of sounded scary there for a second."

"Well, information gathering is part of what I do…"

With a sigh, Kakashi brought back his attention on Hiroko. He wasn't in the mood anymore for extending further in the ANBU matter. It actually made him feel like she was living in a different world now.

"Do you know what the real story of this village is?" he asked bluntly.

Kokoro who had been sitting quietly with them all this time while drinking tea looked up at the silver hair man. Something that looked like worry glittered in her eyes.

"Yes…" answered Hiroko after a long silence.

While the group waited for him to continue, they could see how he was struggling to find his words. Whatever it was, it surely wasn't the fancy fluffy story that Ren had told Kakashi during their meeting.

"Hiroko…" said the woman softly. They stared at each other quietly. Finally, she closed her eyes for a few seconds and added: "Let me tell them."

Something about this made Riko feel uncomfortable. She had that nagging feeling that it wasn't going to be a story that was going to like to hear.

"It all started twenty years ago…"

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><p><strong>Oh, the suspense! Anywho, I'll try to update the next chapter during the next week. Hope you all enjoyed this one!<strong>

**Share the love, write a review!**


	13. Bottled up

**So, this honestly took much much much longer than I thought. I've been caught up with a book I'm reading right now but thankfully that also inspired me to write this chapter. **

**I'm not too sure what you guys are going to think about this but yeah. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter regardless!**

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><p>"It all started 20 years ago; back when the whole village, including this sector, prospered," started the woman as her eyes seemed to drift off to her own past. "We were all happy as our village had been doing much better ever since Lord Takara had taken power. He was known to be a great man. He would listen to everyone's concern, no matter whom or what rank they were. Some nights, he would even invite one of the villagers to his table."<p>

Riko noticed a slight smile appear on the woman's face as she remembered what seemed like some kind of lost paradise. After a brief silence, the woman continued.

"The way our village worked was that each sector had their specialty. Some would be known for their harvesting, others for their farming, etc. We would, of course, all meet in the central sector to exchange and sell our goods. At least, that was the case for those who had something to sell. Our sector was and always has been… different. We didn't go to the people in central to sell our goods, they came to us. That was mostly due to our specialty in our restaurant."

Kokoro took another pause. She was looking at no one in particular as she took her sip of tea. Riko studied her face carefully. She could see a mix of emotions but could not name them. However, some nagging feeling was troubling her. Something was telling her that she wouldn't like this story. Shortly before the woman continued, Riko nervously looked at both her teammates to see if she was the only one who felt like something was off. As much as Kakashi had seemed to notice her every move and emotions up to now, as much as now, he didn't seem to notice her at all.

"Sadly, our cooking talents did not shine through. What our sector was really known for, unfortunately, was the pleasure house. It's quite sad how one can do a lot of business when exploiting people's basic needs…

"About 20 years ago, our sector's manager suddenly died. While some say it was old age, other spoke of assassination. But that was quickly pushed aside as we all started wondering who our next manager would be.

"Around that same time, our Lord Takara was put under a lot of stress. It would seem that even the happiest and prosperous men have their own issues. It was discovered that the feudal lord had married a wife that could not bear him any children. Of course, it was important for him to have an heir but through several disputes, his wife simply refused to adopt a child or even let another woman bear an infant that she would need to consider her own."

"His wife?" interrupted Kakashi, surprised. "She seems so…"

"Quiet? Innocent? Trust me, she knows how to hold her tongue in front of visitors, especially those from out the village," Kokoro answered, her eyes reflecting a mysterious angered.

The woman readjusted her position on the floor. She was obviously becoming uncomfortable with both her story and her sitting position.

"Even the most generous and formidable men sometimes slip."

Riko cocked her head a bit at that fact. She knew that everyone slipped once in a while.

"Back then, I was no good at cooking. Since I had no friends or family in the other sectors, my options were really brought down to only one: working at the pleasure house. I am not proud of what I was."

Whatever the woman had to say, it had to be difficult seeing how she was beating around the bush so much. At that point, the black hair girl looked at Hiroko in wonder. She could see the pattern forming up.

"You… are lord Takara's bastard child… his only child..." Riko said in a half whisper.

The man stared back at her and she could see in his eyes how right she was. While his hazelnut eyes, that reflected the fire's light, seemed to scream the truth, his mouth did none of it. He remained silent as pain seemed to have muted him. A shot of pain stabbed Riko in the chest as a flash memory of her mother holding her hand while drawing in it with her index appeared in her head.

_Family is precious, no matter who they are; no matter where they come from._

Kokoro was finally the one to answer.

"Yes. One night, probably the only one, the feudal lord visited our pleasure house. Honored by his presence, Ren offered him a woman that he considered the best of the best but lord Takara refused. As his eyes lied upon me, he decided that he wanted to spend the night with me.

"Soon after that night, it was discovered that I was pregnant. Knowing this, Ren saw the perfect opportunity to take advantage of the current situation in our sector. He brought me in front of lord Takara, fully knowing that his wife would be present at his side as she has always been. I still remember it like it was yesterday. When we walked in the room, our feudal lord's face turned to ice. Before Ren could say anything, he sent his wife away; the message was clear: he did not want his wife to know about this.

"There, lord Takara made a pact with the devil: he would make Ren the new manager of the south-east sector if he could hide me away in order for no one to ever know what happened."

_Without family, we are alone. We are nothing._

Riko's hands balled up in fists.

"This is how we ended up here," spat out Hiroko angrily.

"And why Ren is manager of this sector regardless of its condition," commented calmly Kakashi with an understanding nod.

"I can't believe that lord Takara would simply pretend not have a child like that. His own child!" mentioned Naruto in disgust.

_Mommy, why does grandfather hate us? Did we do something wrong?_

"Our lord has had his hand tied. Although he knows how poorly we are being treated, he cannot act without risking having Ren exposing the truth," explained softly Kokoro.

"I don't get it. Lord Takara _needs_ an heir. Why not simply embrace the truth and take Hiroko as his child?" asked Naruto.

"Because I am not his wife," answered Kokoro.

Feeling her anger rising, Riko got up.

"I-I'm sorry. I need to take some fresh air. Thank you for telling us everything Kokoro, ma'am."

She bowed quickly and left as fast as she could. When she closed the door behind her and moved out of the little part of the roof that covered the entrance, Riko was welcomed by the cool caressing feeling of the rain on her skin. It was pouring so hard that just 30 seconds later, she was soaking wet. She walked further down the alley and away from the house. Her hands that had remained balled up in fists all this time were starting to hurt.

_In fact, as long as I live, I will make sure that my son will not rule this clan due to his idealistic way of thinking._

After a few minutes of walking, she reached what seemed like a dead end. Brick walls and various garbage welcomed her to the end of the alley.

_We're not leaving you! You...you can't leave us! YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME!_

Shakingly, Riko walked up to the wall that stopped her from going further and laid her left hand on the wall. The pain inside her was growing as memories of her past kept flashing in her mind.

_She's from that distorted Ryuu clan. She has no family; she's alone. She's nobody._

Her jaw clenched. What was wrong with her suddenly? Her eyes were burning but with all this rain, it was hard to tell if she really was crying.

_You...you can't leave me alone! Mommy, I'm scared!_

"Enough!" she yelled out in rage.

Without thinking, she raised her right fist and punched the thick brick wall that was opposing her with all her might. She was alone. She was abandoned. The pain in her wrist proved that this was all real. Why did it feel like she was waking up now?

Blinded by a pain that she had never felt, that had been locked away all this time, she turned around kicked the closed object to her. The pile of garbage bags seemed to explode as she turned around grabbed the nearest thing and threw it against the brick wall behind her. She heard a voice behind her but paid it no attention as she continued to destroy her surroundings.

It was only when she was about to punch the wall again that she felt a pair of strong arms wrap around her and pull her away from the wall.

"Let me go!"

Without thinking, she turned around and punched in the stomach the man that had pulled her away. Although it had obviously hit the man hard, he kept his arms around her. Still blinded by rage, she kept hitting the man on his chest and in his stomach but not once did he falter.

After what seemed like an eternity, the girl slowly started to calm down. Out of breath and still trapped in a pair of arms, she placed both hands on his chest and her head against his shoulder. As the anger left, leaving her only with pain, she started to cry softly. Seeing this, the man tightened his arms around her and leaned over, as if trying to shelter her from the rain and everything else.

"It hurts…" she half whispered through her sobbing.

"It does but it will diminish over time," answered the man.

Recognizing the man for the first time, she looked up at Kakashi. He was soaked by the rain too and his hair had lost the composure that seemed to usually keep them up.

"We should bandage your hand, you know," he softly said.

Not quite understanding what she meant, she looked down at her hand to see its knuckles injured due to its impact with the wall. Not much blood covered it as the rain washed it gradually off. Judging by the pain that ran down her arm, she could sense that her wrist wasn't in perfect condition either. Slowly understanding what had happened, she backed out of Kakashi's arms and took in her surroundings. If the place hadn't looked like trash before, it certainly did now. All the garbage was now scattered everywhere. Even the bigger pieces didn't survive her rage as most of them were now shattered and scattered on the ground. The wall where she had first arrived to now bared a surprisingly deep hole considering how she had punched it with brute force alone.

"What is wrong with me…?" she asked to no one in particular.

"Have you ever talked about your past and the feelings you hold from it to anyone before?" Kakashi's voice rang out from behind her.

After slowly turning around, she met his only visible eye. She shook her head as an answer. Embarrassed by her lack of control, she looked down until she saw his two feet closing up on her. Seeing how she wouldn't look back up at him, he crouched down to meet her stare.

"You can't bottle it all in forever. Trust me, I know."

She looked down at him in wonder. How could he ever know what she felt? Before she could ask, he swiftly grabbed her right arm and looked at her wrist. Softly, he rubbed a thumb over it and sharp pain appeared under his touch. At her slight twitch, he looked up apologetically.

"Luckily for you, your wrist isn't broken, just dislocated. This is why I'm going to apologize to you ahead of time," he said while standing back up.

She followed his face with her eyes as he stood taller than her again.

"Apologize for wh...AH!"

Her question was never finished as sheer pain ran from her wrist to her elbow. Looking back down, she realized that Kakashi had done a fine job in placing back her wrist the way it should be. She could move it around a bit but it was extremely painful to do so.

Kakashi took out a roll of bandage from his pouch. It was a true wonder how he could still fit some things in there when his book probably took the entire place. Gently, ever so gently, he took her wrist and wrapped the bandage around it and the hand.

"Try not to move it too much for a while, at least until it heals; unless you have to use it of course. We should go now. We need to make a plan for this whole twisted story."

And suddenly, without another word, he turned his back to her, placed the roll of bandage back in his pouch, and slowly started walking back to the house. Riko felt her heart squeeze at this sudden indifference. The man had been persistent with knowing more about her recently and now it seemed like the complete opposite. She bit her lip. Was opening up a mistake after all? She shook her head. No. She was convinced that it was her as a whole. As new kind of pain settled in, she hardened her expression and stood tall. Back to the usual composure that she had known almost all her life, she followed the silver hair man back to the house.

By the time they reached the door, the rain and lightened. Riko looked up at the sky and silently cursed it. Without ever slowing down, Kakashi opened the door in front of them and they both walked into the welcoming warmth. The three people inside stopped their chatting and looked up at the two very wet arrival.

"You guys are back!" shouted Naruto with glee.

He looked both at his sensei and at his teammate. When he noticed Riko's cold expression, he felt worried.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah," nodded the girl. "Just needed fresh air."

Without saying anything else, they sat back down in their respectful place. Kakashi looked around at everyone.

"We need a plan for this. Any suggestions?"

Everyone seemed to become thoughtful as a pure silence fell upon them. Surprisingly, the girl spoke up first.

"To solve the current issue, we will need to look into the fake rebel business," she started while leaning in. "Like I mentioned earlier, I caught one of them back when they attacked the main mansion in central. The guards took him away so I will ask them to allow me to question him."

"And if we can prove that Ren is behind it all, then it will give lord Takara a chance to imprison him!" finished Hiroko with a hint of excitement in his voice all while leaning forward too. "No matter what he says after that will be void."

With a nod of approval, sat back up straight and looked at Naruto.

"But we shouldn't bring Naruto back with us."

Of course, the blond hair boy didn't take it too well.

"What? Why?!"

"Simply because we have started to meddle too far in this and they'll want to get rid of us. Keeping you hidden here will guarantee us our stay," Riko answered with the same serious and emotionless voice.

Naruto grew thoughtful as he looked at the fire, unsure whether he was for or against this.

"Your stay here doesn't mean that you won't be able to help," Kakashi told him, knowing full well that it would help him make up his mind.

"Yeah?" asked Naruto.

"Of course, you will be able to help on the rebels' side. If we need to move, they'll need your help and we'll need you for communication," explained his sensei while plastering a smile on his face which was visible despite his mask.

From the corner of her eye, Riko noted the fake expression on his face and that left her cold. Something in her made her angry and she refused to let it show. To do so, she simply decided to concentrate on the task at hand.

Finally, Naruto nodded. Seeing as no one else had something to add, the silver hair man got up.

"Then I guess it's time for us to head back. We wouldn't want them to start looking for us too; plus, we need to update Shikamaru also."

Riko also got up without saying a word. She knew her role: while Kakashi would talk to the black hair boy, she would request to interrogate the prisoner with pretext that it would help her get her hands on the rebel's leader.

After bidding good bye to everyone, Kakashi opened the door and walked under the roof to check the sky. A light mist seemed to have replaced the previous heavy rain. Riko started following him out when a hand on her arm stopped her. She turned around to see Naruto who was standing really close. With his hand up on the side of his mouth, he whispered:

"Everything will be fine. I promise that we'll help Hikoro get back to his father."

Riko looked at the boy in wonder as she realized that he had also sensed that something was wrong. When she saw him smile in delight at the appearance of an emotion on her face, she couldn't help but feel helpless as everyone on this mission seemed to read her like an open book while she couldn't even understand herself. Just before she left, the blonde boy saw a flash of frustration appear in her eyes and that left him worried.

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><p><strong>And that is it for this really complicated chapter. Reviews would be extremely appreciated as I really want to know what you guys thought about this!<strong>

**Thanks for reading!**


	14. Just following orders

**Happy Sunday everyone. Here is the next part of Anbu's life. Hope you all enjoy it!**

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><p>After his conversation with Ren, lord Takara had not come out of his room which left Shikamaru to wander around the mansion. All day he reflected back upon what he heard, trying to understand what was going on. It was later that evening, while standing on the front porch of the mansion, did he see two shinobis walking up the hill with quite a distance between them. Seeing their cold expression, when they reached the top, he automatically assumed that they had not found Naruto. At that thought, the boy's shoulders slumped down.<p>

"Are we late for supper?" asked the silver hair man.

Shikamaru shook his head.

"They are still preparing it. It will probably be served soon though."

"Good! Let's head there," the man answered while looking around discreetly.

The black hair boy gave him a curious glance but knew better than to say anything, especially after what he had heard earlier today. Thus, he lazily shook his shoulders, turned around, and started walking in the direction of their quarter. He stopped when he heard Riko speak up.

"I want to go talk to the guards right away. I'll see you two later," she quickly said.

And without allowing them to reply anything, she disappeared. Shikamaru looked at the spot where she had stood and then to Kakashi, not too sure what to think. The silver hair man beside him simply sighed.

"She won't rest easy until she gets her job done," he simply said. After shaking his shoulder and shoving his hands in his pockets, he added: "Once an ANBU, always an ANBU I guess."

Shikamaru opened his mouth to make a comment but the man's cloudy expression dissuaded him from speaking up. Turning around, he thought about how Kakashi had also been an ANBU in the past and now there he was: just a jounin taking regular missions and looking over some students.

Even when they reached the dining room, Kakashi kept silence. He settled down at the end of the table and the black hair boy took his usual seat on the chair beside the man. As he saw the silver man take out his book, Shikamaru stretched lazily on his chair and thought about how silence usually didn't bother him. Usually. Something about this kind of silence was making him uncomfortable. Straightening his position, he looked at Kakashi.

"Did you two find…?"

But his question was abruptly cut off as two servants came in and brought supper. One of them looked around and Shikamaru knew by the look in her eyes that she was wondering why only two of the usual four guests were seated at the table. She, however, kept her mouth shut and helped her colleague to set the table for four and left. Shikamaru took that time to reflect a bit more on their current situation. It is only when the servants left that he realized something. He looked at the man that was picking out his supper and bluntly asked:

"Where's Naruto?"

The man averted his attention from his plate to look at him. He didn't seem all that surprised that the boy had figured out a bit of the truth. The silver hair man closed his book that was on the table and sighed.

"Sit back and enjoy your food because I need to update you on quite a lot of things."

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><p>In the growing darkness outside, Riko was silently gliding from rooftop to rooftop in the central sector. She had made a great deal of effort to push any kind of thoughts out of her head. The girl didn't want to think about anything and wanted to be alone. Unfortunately, those two things were very hard to have together but somehow she had managed to achieve both. Enjoying her loneliness, she had even taken a detour on the way to the building that she was heading for but even there, she still arrived all too soon.<p>

Reaching the front door, she stopped and stood there for a second, enjoying her last bit of moment of loneliness. One thought managed to slip in her mind as she knocked on the door: oh, how she would love to have her mask. Without it, she felt exposed. She didn't let it show, however, when a guard opened a small window in the door.

"Yeah?" asked the man harshly.

Between the time the man opened the window and spoke up, Riko had swiftly looked at the door and around her. The first thing she thought was how it would be easy for her to break in. Studying her environment was one of the many skills thought to a black op. Without showing any sign of what she was thinking, she looked at the man dead in the eyes. She could see how the guard's eyes were bloodshot red and full of exhaustion.

"I need to see the rebel we captured at the mansion."

"No visitors allowed," said the man in an annoyed voice and closed the window.

In a flash, Riko pulled out a kunai knife and slid it through the opening in order to stop the window from shutting completely. Dumbstruck, the man stood there with wide eyes as she opened the window, which he had let go of, with her kunai. With a controlled smile that she knew would sent chills down the man's spine, she calmly told him:

"I'm not _just_ a visitor."

The man looked like a fish out of his bowl as he opened and closed his mouth several time without a word coming out of it. Seeing how it would probably take a while before the man would remember how to speak, Riko added:

"Now, I will ask you again: will you let me in?"

Surprisingly, the man was able to understand what she said and opened the door but that was as far as he went. He still stood there dumbstruck. Riko shook her head lightly and decided to walk in regardless. A bit further down the hall, she crossed another guard.

"Who are you?" the man asked loudly a very jumpy guard.

Unlike the previous guard, this one was well-built and did not seem to be lacking on sleep. Automatically, Riko knew that this one was new in his position seeing how energetic he was.

"I'm here to see the rebel that we have captured," she repeated calmly.

The man looked uncomfortable with what she said. Lightly balancing from one foot to another, he started to look for his words:

"Well, uh, the man, well, rebel, he's, uh…"

He stopped as he realized how stupid he looked. All the while, Riko stood there with her arms crossed, waiting for a decent answer. Finally, the man blurted out something comprehensible:

"I don't know."

The girl raised an eyebrow, first sign of emotion since she had walked in the building. It was taking all her might not to show how irritated she was becoming with all these useless guards.

"You don't know what?" she asked.

The man started mumbling incomprehensible words once again.

"The rebel is not here," suddenly said a voice behind her.

Another guard that was wearing a slightly different armor, walked forth to meet her. Just by looking at him, she knew that he must have been the superior.

"Why is he not?"

"Because we have judged that he was not threat to our lord Takara."

Although she did not show, Riko was taken aback by his explanation. She stared directly in his eyes and could see that something was off.

"So if I get this right, you have judged that a rebel, who has tried to kill lord Takara, was no threat to the man itself?"

Said like this, his explanation seemed ridiculous yet, somehow, the man had enough willpower to not lose his face in front of her.

"We did not make the decision, miss. We just followed orders."

"And where did such a stupid decision come from exactly?" she asked while lowering her voice to a dangerous tone.

Nervously taking a slight step back, the man answered:

"Lord Ren."

"When?"

"Last night."

Without a word, she took a single step toward him. Just this made the supervisor back up a few more. Delighted that she had not lost her touch, she spun around and headed for the front door where the first guard was still standing there with wide eyes. Before closing the door behind her, she spun around and words that she would have never even thought about saying before just came out of her mouth:

"When something will happen to lord Takara, I certainly hope that you will all reflect on how you 'just followed orders'".

Without giving them a chance to reply, she quickly closed the door behind her. As soon as it was shut, she quickly jumped away and unto a roof. She continued her motion from rooftop to rooftop until she reached about halfway between that building and the mansion. With a sudden stop, she stood straight and looked up at the surprisingly clear sky. What had gotten into her back there? God knows how long she stood there just staring blankly at the sky but she knew that she would have to go back to the mansion and face Kakashi.

After gathering up the little resolution she had left in her, she quickly made her way back to the mansion. Seeing how it had become late, she had hoped that her two teammates would be gone to bed. Disappointment filled her when she saw Kakashi sitting at the end of the table, with his back on her, reading his book in the kitchen. Silently, she walked up to the leftovers that were still on the table. She thought about how cold the food seemed as she was putting it on her plate.

The silver hair man looked up from his book and stared at the girl. He saw how she seemed a lot like at the beginning of their mission. Silently, he shrugged at the thought that she was an ANBU. He reflected on how he had felt something for her. She seemed different than the other black ops and that had made him hope for the best. However, when he had taken her wrist earlier to wrap a bandage around it, he had seen some scars on her forearm that he had failed to notice before. The sight of them had left him cold as he knew that usually, these scars were caused by pushing through a broken chest armor. In other words, she had pierced someone's chest armor by going through it with her arm.

He was so deep in thought that he almost missed the moment where Riko had started heading for the door holding her plate.

"Where you going?"

"In my room," she said without slowing down.

At the speed she was going, he knew that he had the time to ask only one last question.

"What kind of info did you get?" was the only question he could think of.

"Nix," she swiftly answered while walking through the door. Just before closing the door, however, she stopped as she reflected on what happened. Finally, she let out: "The fake rebel isn't there anymore. They let him go."

And with that, the door was closed, leaving Kakashi confused as hell and hating himself for coming up with nothing else to say.

In just a matter of second, Riko arrived to her room. She settled down the plate on the table beside her bed, not feeling very hungry. In fact, she had picked out some food only for the form. After getting ready for bed, the girl let herself fall on her back on her bed and brought up her arms behind her head to finally stare at the ceiling. This time, she let her mind wander around without really paying attention to her own thoughts. She even jumped, much later, when she heard some shuffling noise in the room next to her. After listening for several minutes, she realized that she had no reason to panic as it was just Kakashi going around his room.

That alone inevitably led her mind to think about Kakashi. She bit her lip at the thought of her outburst earlier today and how it had made the man so cold toward her. Anger filled her but it was not aimed toward him. It was aimed toward herself. He somehow knew what she was going through. At least, that's what she thought. Thinking back to the scene under the rain, she remembered his words. Maybe he was right. Maybe she shouldn't bottle up her feelings.

But what did she have bottled up? Her mind instantly started to cover these feelings. Her childhood was definitely at the top of the list. It then moved on to her training as an ANBU. Oh, how did she suffer under her first supervisor. Once she had become used to doing her job, she did not feel much afterwards. She was following orders and that was it. _Just following orders_. The guard's words floated in her mind. It sounded ugly but it was true. She had not had any feelings towards her missions. At least, that was the case until…

Riko remembered clearly Kakashi under the rain with her. She remembered how his hair was heavy from the rain. How it stuck to his face. It wasn't the only thing that had stuck to him under rain. Now that she thought back, she remembered how his clothing had seemed like a second skin on him. At that thought, a warm feeling grew inside her.

Realizing how she was now breathing heavily, she shook her head in order to get it out of her head. In order to avoid thinking of that anymore, she closed her eyes and concentrated on the noise around her which, in fact, was nothing. She had not noticed it but Kakashi had stopped moving in his room. He was probably gone to bed.

At that simple thought, her mind drifted off and Riko fell asleep.

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><p><strong>That's it for now. <strong>

**Share the love, write a review! I'd like to know what you guys think while reading this!**


	15. A day full of surprises

**Hi everyone! To begin, for anyone who do read my comments, I'm sorry for slowing down on my stories. I really thought that I would have more time to write this story and, now that school started again, it would seem that I'm even more busy between work and school. I'm still trying my best though!**

**Secondly, as an apology for how slow I am at updating and how slow this story seems to be moving along, I have written yet another Kakashi lemon. The title of it is : "The Other Book".**

**Thank you all for still reading my story. I would really love seeing some insight about either things you love or things that annoy you (or both!). Don't be shy, and enjoy this chapter!**

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><p><em>Although her eyes were closed, she could feel the weight of another covering her's. Together, they felt right. She could melt into him anytime. The soft heat on her lips was desirable and she could not resist opening her mouth in order to welcome his tongue. In need, it entered her mouth and swirled with her own. As they continued their dance, her desired grew. <em>

_"Kakashi..." she moaned in need while catching her breath. _

_She raised her arms and wrapped them around his neck, in need for more. As she did so, she heard an icy voice, that wasn't who she thought, answer:_

_"Are you finally accepting me, little dragon?"_

_Recognizing the voice she gasped. She tried to open her eyes to confirm his identity but she couldn't. In fact, she couldn't move at all. She started throwing her weight around as much as she could to get away from him. _

_"Stop struggling. It will be over soon," said the man mockingly. _

_She felt too much terror to stop trying to get away from under him. She opened her mouth in order to yell out for help._

However, before any kind of sound could come out of her throat, she was suddenly woken up by the feeling of falling. Almost immediately, she landed on the ground painfully. With her eyes now wide open, she looked frantically around. Gasping for air, she tried to move but soon realized that she was wrapped up in her bed sheets. Suffocating, she wiggled around in an ultimate attempt of getting out of her blankets prison. Finally, she managed to get out of them and sat squarely on the ground. She firmly put both her hands on the ground and looked down toward it. Slowly, very slowly, she managed to calm down her breathing.

Feeling a bit calmer, she looked once again around her. Seeing how tangled the bed sheets were, she guessed that she must have tossed around a lot in her sleep last night. This kind of nightmare hadn't happened in a few years. Shaking her head a bit, she finally decided that going back to sleep might not be the best solution. Besides, she could see the sun rising a bit outside. Carefully, Riko got up from the ground. After picking up her blankets and throwing them on her bed, she walked to her bag and pulled out what she needed for a shower. She then quietly slipped out of her room and headed for the shower.

In front of the door that led to a bathroom which then led to two different change rooms connected to showers, she stretched out her right arm to slide the door open. She grimaced when she felt pain stretch through her still healing wrist. It would seem that she had fallen on it when she rolled off the bed earlier. As she looked down at it, the door in front of her suddenly slid open, making her jump backward. There, on the other side, stood the silver hair man wearing his pants, a long-sleeve shirt, and his mask. He seemed as equally surprised as her to see someone else up so early. Seeing her holding her wrist close to her, he asked:

"Did you not avoid using it as I had suggested?"

"I did but… never mind," the girl decided to not answer, not feeling in the mood to argue.

She started moving forward and he moved aside to let her in. As she headed for the change room that the team had decided to be the woman side, Kakashi said quickly:

"Don't be surprise if you hear me walking in, in a few minutes. I'm going to go get the towel I forgot in my room and I'm coming back."

Without looking at him, she shook her head quickly and walked in the change room. As she closed the door, she saw the man looking curiously at her. Once inside, Riko placed her things all around. Hurriedly, she opened the shower and let the sweet feeling of water caress her skin. She knew by now that whenever her mind was troubled, any kind of source of water would help her ease it. A contempt sigh escaped her lips. She hadn't felt tense like this in a long while.

With the soap, she thoroughly rubbed her skin as if she could clean off the feeling of _his_ touch on her. Just the thought of him made her shiver. As she thought back on her dream, she let the water rinse out the soap and shampoo off of her. Years after that incident, he still somehow managed to come and hunt her, she realized. That voice... There was no mistaking. It was _his_. The man who made her training in the ANBU a living hell: Nihon.

She had been assigned to him when her talent was found out. It was made clear pretty quickly that he did not appreciate her. In fact, he had an unconditional hatred for her. Yet, he knew he had full control on her and he took that to his advantage. It lasted for almost two years. She had learned to endure whatever he threw at her and he hated it. Thus, he would punished her. Yet, he knew that whatever he would do, she wouldn't complain to anyone because her ANBU life was all she had left. What he didn't know, however, was that this was not really a secret for others who would worked with them.

That was why they backed her up when it happened. Riko learned that everyone had a limit, including her. During that one mission, his last mission, they were ambushed and the little dragon, as he called her mockingly all the time, saved his neck. Others admired her talent. He saw it as a humiliation. That night he went too far. When the group separated in a samurai town to make some research, Nihon plotted vengeance as regular punishment did not seem fit to him. He stole a samurai armor off one of the citizen, disguised himself, and went after the girl.

She was investigating some empty back roads when he got to her. He first pinned her down before she could do anything and removed her swords from her. Using them for himself, he held one against her neck and slipped one behind his belt. But killing her didn't seem fit enough as he still wanted more. Then and there, he started ripping her clothes, determined to take full advantage of the situation.

He never got what he wanted. It was still a haze to her but she knew that she had managed to grab a kunai knife and had first stabbed his arm. In pain, he backed up just far enough for her to make a second and final hit. Still in panic, she followed her instincts and plunged the kunai in his chest, piercing his armor and going right through his heart.

In the shower, she looked down at the scar that the broken armor had left on her forearm. Yet, this scar seemed so little compared to the others that he had left her with. Though invisible, they were more painful because they were mental. Even dead, Nihon still managed to haunt her. She struggled to forget about him but, even with the support of her coworkers, she still felt broken. Seeing her continuous struggle and her lack of sleep, which led to her lack of performance, Danzō decided to intervene.

He trained her to lock out her feelings, just like she had done after both of her parents' death. Though she had done it unconsciously, he taught her to do it and she did it. He explained to her that orders were meant to be followed because they help her avoid facing these kinds of shocks. She took it for gold. Riko found refuge in the orders given to her as they weren't her decisions, which meant that she didn't have to spare any feelings to make them or face the consequences.

Kakashi was pulling her away from that, she realized. All this time, she had locked herself away in these emotionless acts and the silver hair man was forcing her to open herself up once again. Because of that, she now had to face everything she had locked away and that terrified her. Not only because she didn't know how to deal with it, but also because felt lonely. The man, though still talking to her, felt more distant than at first.

"Riko?" she heard a voice call out to her through the doors.

"Yeah?" she answered, abruptly brought back to reality.

"You okay?"

She recognised Kakashi.

"Yes?" she said, unsure why he'd ask that.

"Ok... I just thought that it's been awhile that you were in there since I'm already done my shower."

The girl blinked in surprised. She had been so lost in thoughts that she hadn't heard him at all.

"O-ok. I'm coming out anyways," she quickly told him.

She heard the main door open and closed and assumed that he was gone. As promised, she turned off her shower and walked in her private change room to dry herself off. While she started drying herself, her thoughts drifted back to her dream. As she was drying her face, she suddenly stopped her movement at a certain thought. Lowering her towel, she stared off into space in bewilderment. At the beginning of her dream, she had called out a very specific name. Holding her towel in one hand, she unconsciously brought the fingers of her other hand up to her lips. Why had she called Kakashi's name?

Once again lost in thoughts, this time about Kakashi, she finished getting dressed. It had been a few days since she had found out that they had let go of the prisoner. Ever since, Kakashi had asked her to take Shikamaru's place at the mansion while they met up with the rebels. Though she didn't like being left behind, she had appreciated the thought of being able to talk a bit more with the man. Unfortunately, he wasn't as friendly as he had been. Something had changed and she was now convinced that it was because of her outburst.

She blinked in surprise once again when she saw the man standing there, over the sink, arranging his humid hair all while looking in the mirror. Seeing her reflection in the mirror, he looked at her with even more curiosity as before. Her attitude obviously seemed different to him this morning.

"What?" he plainly asked.

"O-oh. I just thought that you were already out."

He turned around and leaned back on the counter all while staring at her.

"Well, Shikamaru came in. Is that a problem?"

That was when she noticed that he was only wearing his tight undershirt instead of his usual long sleeve shirt. At the thought of that and the dream still burning on the back of her mind, she started feeling a fuzzy feeling in her stomach. Without ever answering his question, she hurriedly left the place and headed for her room.

As soon as she was in, she quickly shut the door and dropped her stuff. She couldn't believe that she was letting herself act like this. Not too long ago, before this mission had started, she had been in perfect control of herself. Now, not only did she feel like she wasn't in control of her feelings, she was starting to feel things and act in a way she never had before. It took a lot of convincing, and hair brushing, to get herself to go to the dinner room and try to act as normal as possible. At least, what she hoped to be normal.

When she got there, she noticed the food that was once again already served on the table. Under the curious stare of the silver hair man that was standing by the window, she picked out her plate. She then sat down in silence. Felling watched, she looked in the corner of her eye to see that he was still looking at her.

"What?" she finally had the courage to ask him.

"Are you feeling okay?" he asked in return.

"Yeah. Just... Tired. I didn't sleep much last night," she lied the best she could.

Although he wanted to ask more questions, he left it to that and let her eat. Soon enough, Shikamaru came in and joined Riko at the table as she was finishing her food. While munching, he looked at the team leader.

"Are we still following the same plan?" he asked.

"Yeah. We'll go out and Riko will keep guard by lord Takara's side," answered Kakashi.

The girl simply nodded. Today, of all day, she was glad that she was staying behind. She was in no state of thinking. Besides, she knew by now how great the black hair boy's mind was. She would just follow whatever they would plan as she knew that they would do their best to make things right.

A shiver went down her back at the thought. Since when did she care about other people's decisions and orders? Definitely, she needed to try to sleep more. However, she knew that she couldn't, not on a mission. She'd have to wait until they got back to Konoha to catch up on her sleep. The only thing that was bothering her was that she had no clue how long this mission would last. Another thing that made this mission awkward was how she had to go around in the open. This wasn't the kind of mission she was used to. She always used to go around in the shadows.

As the two men started leaving the room, Riko casted her eyes upon her team leader's back as she wondered how she could help to make this mission advance more quickly. Quite frankly, they were kind of running still at the moment. The only lead they had was gone and she wasn't too sure how to track him. While revising all the information the team had gathered in her mind, a servant came in.

"Pardon me," the lady spoke up.

Riko looked at her, waiting to see what message she had for her.

"Lord Takara has asked me to let you know that he had to go out today for business and has decided to leave his dear wife under your care. The latter, lady Chidori, has requested your presence."

The shinobi stared at her blankly. Definitely, this day was meant to be full of surprises.

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><p><strong>As always: share the love, write a review!<strong>


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